Twelve Days of Christmas
by emirozus
Summary: She dreamed of two-tailed foxes with planes, bright blue eyes, and toothy yawns. She supposed it's all the romantic tendencies that Christmas exudes that had him being the only thing on her mind. —Crails.
1. Partridge in a Pear Tree

**A/N**: Okay, so this is a Christmas/New Years project for me. It's based off of the Twelve Days of Christmas song, and there are complicated issues with when the whole Twelve Days of Christmas is.

Contrary to most belief, the twelve days aren't the twelve days _before_ Christmas, they're actually the twelve days after Christmas. Some religions celebrate it from December 25th to January 5th- the night before Epiphany- while others celebrate it the 26th through the actual day of the Epiphany.

In this story, there is nothing to do with religion. I'm doing it from December 25th to the fifth, just because I think that fits better with the story. So, don't be… offended or whatever.

Onwards!

There's going to be one chapter for each of the twelve days, which means twelve chapters uploaded by the fifth of January. This is like, the _only_ time this is happening, haha.

**BLANKET DISCLAIMER**: I don't own the song or the characters- just the ideas.

* * *

_**On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me-  
**__A partridge in a pear tree._

_December 25th_

* * *

Christmas.

Christmas was Cream's favorite holiday. Just because she was a rabbit _didn't_ mean her favorite holiday was Easter. In fact, she didn't even like that holiday because she had ignorant little kids coming up to her and asking if she was the Easter bunny.

Wasn't the Easter bunny a guy?

Anyways, Christmas was Cream's favorite holiday. She was sixteen years old now and she still couldn't fight back the excitement and anticipation she got on Christmas Eve. She'd lay in bed until two in the morning until she passed out from being exhausted and she'd wake up at eight in the morning every time.

She couldn't resist the sudden wave of energy that washed over her whenever she opened her sleepy eyes and it clicked in her head that it was Christmas. She didn't hold herself back whenever she got the instinct to barge into her mother's room and wake her up just to drag her downstairs and open the few presents they had gotten each other.

And that was _exactly_ what she was doing now.

Cream, tiptoeing down the hallway in her baggy shirt and sweatpants, was grinning from the thrill of it being Christmas. She reached her mother's room and opened it silently, only to find her mother already awake, slipping on a robe with tired eyes. It seemed that her mother had anticipated her this year, for she smiled knowingly.

The younger rabbit waited for her mother before joining her in walking down the stairs. As she finished descending her creaky staircase, she noted the bright green Christmas tree in the corner of their living room with presents taking up all the space around it. Cream always put the presents she had gotten for her friends under the tree, just for the illusion.

Vanilla shuffled into the kitchen to whip up some eggs while Cream flipped on the TV to see the weather. Snowy, freezing- just like the last week had been. Cream didn't mind it, and she happily turned off the TV at the smell of bacon wafting from the kitchen.

Vanilla and Cream ate their Christmas morning breakfast in a comfortable silence before moving over to the tree where they opened their presents. Satisfied with what they both received, they embraced, and then Vanilla made a move to go get ready (she was going over to Vector's, Cream knew it) and Cream tidied up before getting ready herself.

Every Christmas, Cream and all her friends from their 'saving the world' days would come together and celebrate. They saw each other a lot, so it wasn't like a giant reunion, but it was nice to see everybody together at one time.

After Cream showered, she gathered up all the presents in three neat stacks by the door and she put two presents aside wrapped in shimmering gold wrapping paper- presents for Vector that her mother would take over to him. Cream smiled happily and hummed to herself as she searched for her phone, glancing at the clock before dialing the number.

Nine twenty-seven. Surely he was up, no?

Cream called her two-tailed friend and waited patiently for the dial tone to stop ringing, washing dishes as she did so (she was what they called a master multi-tasker). Eventually, the ringing stopped, and she waited a few seconds before a groggy voice answered the phone.

"…Ugh, hello?"

"Merry Christmas!" Cream exclaimed, giggling at the sound of groans coming from the other line. "Why aren't you up, Tails? It's _Christmas_!"

"I'm up now," he mumbled, and he yawned and cleared his throat before his voice became clearer. "Anyways, what's up Cream?"

Cream dried off a plate as she spoke. "Well, I'm all ready and dressed so I was wondering if you could swing by with the Tornado to help me with my presents?" she asked. "It's just really cold outside and the roads are covered in snow and ice so I can't call a taxi-"

"Sure, Cream," he agreed, chuckling lightly. She recognized the gurgle of mouthwash. "Give me fifteen minutes. I'll be there."

Cream smiled. "Thanks, Tails."

He muttered a quick "no prob" before shutting off his phone, leaving Cream smiling because that wonderful, caring, selfless was her _almost-_boyfriend.

Yes, almost. Amy told her so.

* * *

The freezing cold air nipped at Cream's cheeks as she loaded the last of the presents into the back of the Tornado. Adjusting her scarf so it covered her neck, she followed Tails into the front where she'd be sitting with him. After climbing in, she turned around to wave to her mother, who's head was sticking out the front door.

"Have fun!" Vanilla shouted. "Call me when you're heading home!"

Cream gave her mom a thumbs-up before facing the right direction and plopping in her seat. She watched Tails secretly from the side mirrors, her eyes following his movement as he made twiddled with something on the back of the plane. She smiled as he joined her, flashing her a quick grin before hopping in a closing the cockpit.

"Are you having a good Christmas, Cream?" he asked as he started up the plane, switching various dials and the like. Cream smiled at him as he met her gaze from his mirror, and she nodded, her caramel hair bouncing as she did so.

"Yes!" she answered. "Mom got me those shoes I wanted, and she bought me a CD and some bows."

Tails nodded, now completely focused on getting the plane in the air. "That's good. You'll get much more at the party though. Where's it at again?"

The bunny rolled her eyes. "Sonic and Amy's house, Tails. How many times have we told you?"

He turned and grinned sheepishly. "Heh, sorry. I've been doing a lot lately, it always slips my mind."

The duo made small talk over towards Sonic and Amy's house, which was a good fifteen minutes away by air. The people in the city were used to seeing the Tornado fly overhead- it did house a _lot_ of the world's saviors.

Landing beside the hedgehog couple's house, Cream hopped out as soon as the cockpit was high enough. Grabbing a few presents from the back, she made her way over to the front door. It was already open, revealing a very pregnant Amy and a blue head peeking out from behind her.

"Cream!" Amy, smiled at her. "You're always the first here."

Shrugging, Cream stepped inside, relishing in the heat. "What can I say? I wake up early."

Sonic, who was standing beside his wife, stuck his head out the door. "I see you've gotten Tails up early too."

The rabbit glanced in Sonic's direction as Amy relieved her of a few bags. "Well, yeah, how was I supposed to get all my presents here?"

At that, Amy shooed Sonic off, ordering him to help his best friend with the numerous gifts Cream had bought. "I don't know how you manage to afford all these gifts, Cream," the sakura hedgehog said. "You work at chao store, for goodness sake."

Cream, who had long departed with her chao Cheese, had worked there for a while now just to spend time with the Chao. "The boss lady is nice," she replied. "She gives us raises around Christmas time."

Amy mumbled something about senile old ladies as she set down the presents she was carrying in front of their huge tree. Placing her hands on her stomach, she smiled at Cream as they met eyes. Cream cocked her head as she stared at Amy's protruding belly. "The due date is the fourth, right?"

Her friend nodded, her eyes glowing. "Yeah, and we're _so _excited," she smiled fondly. "You have no idea how skittish Sonic has been lately. It's so _adorable_."

"Skittish?" Cream mused before laughing. "I can see that."

Sonic and Tails then entered, both looking rather cold and both carrying way too many presents. Cream relieved them of their weight and then sat in front of the fire, shedding her layers as she listened to the other three talk.

Over the course of two hours, plenty more people showed up, including Knuckles, Rouge, Espio and Charmy (Vector being with her mom, the party pooper), Silver, Blaze, and even Shadow (nobody knew how Amy managed to find him; her party planning skills defied _everything_). Cream welcomed them all equally, making her observations on moods like she always did, elated. She loved it when everyone was together. They were her family, and other than her mother, they were all she lived for.

The group all ate lunch, talked, and opened their presents, and around dinner time they were all ready for more food. They ate once more and Cream had been having a spectacular day. She loved all the presents she had gotten (_especially_ the plushie from Shadow, because _that_ was just too funny), and everyone was in good moods, even Knuckles, who was usually grumpier than anyone.

As the sun set and the air got about twenty degrees chillier, everyone had decided that it was about time they went home. Silver and Blaze left together, followed by Espio and Charmy. Shadow, with a nod of his head, Chaos Control-ed home, and Knuckles and Rouge stuck around before conspicuously leaving at the same time.

That left Cream with her almost-boyfriend, her best friend, and her surrogate-brother (believe it or not, he was one), which were three of her four favorite people. She smiled the whole way through the rest of the time they stayed, which was until Amy started yawning and Sonic shooed them out the door with their gifts.

Tails and Cream loaded up the Tornado with the gifts they had received, and they climbed in the Tornado, heading back to Cream's house. She had called her mom, who hadn't even thought of leaving Vector's, and told her that she had a _fabulous_ Christmas and she was ready for an early bedtime.

Landing in front of her house, Tails shut off the Tornado and climbed out to help Cream with her presents. They unloaded, and Cream invited the fox inside for a moment, just to fix him something to drink.

Tails sat at the counter, shaking the snow off his fur as Cream readied water for some hot chocolate. She smiled as he yawned, and it was just so _cute_ to see him yawn because he did it toothily, and she got out two mugs as he spoke.

"Did'ja have a good Christmas?" he asked, blue eyes boring into hers. She felt a blush, but she pushed it down and averted her eyes from his. Cream nodded and met his gaze again.

"Yeah, a real good one," she smiled. "You?"

Pausing a moment, still staring at her, he smiled slowly and nodded. "Definitely."

Cream giggled, because she _got _what he was saying, and then she heard the keys jingling at the door and her mother entered with a big gust of wind. Vanilla looked up and saw the dashing fox sitting at her counter, and she smiled fondly because she remembered whenever she was young like her daughter and she had that kind of love too.

"Hello, Ms. Vanilla," Tails greeted, and Cream chirped a 'hey mom!' from behind him. The older rabbit greeted them both, and she set down the bag from Vector for Cream on the table beside the door.

Cream handed Tails his mug of hot chocolate, and he took a small sip and smiled at her. "Pretty good, Cream," he said, gathering up his coat and shrugging it over his shoulders. "I've got to get going. See you later, Cream?"

Cream nodded, and she watched as he said goodbye to her mother and he left their house, and she watched him start up his plane and fly off into the night sky. She watched the plane fly away until she couldn't see the lights anymore, and then she sighed wistfully.

Her mom walked up to her side and placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "You'll see him again, dear."

Cream nodded. "…I know, mom. I know."

Vanilla smiled at her daughter. "Now, head to bed. We've both had a long day."

The two rabbits retreated to their rooms, exhausted from the overwhelming activity of the day. Cream heard her mother's shower go off, and the sixteen year old slowly got into her pajamas.

She dreamed of two-tailed foxes with planes, bright blue eyes, and toothy yawns.

* * *

**A/N:** Chapter 1/12 done.. Wow. Ugh. I've got a lot of these to go. I've already got the basics down, though(: Anyways, review, and alert this story because there are going to be eleven more chapters between now and the fifth!(: Happy holidays everyone!


	2. Two Turtle Doves

**A/N:** Blehh. So I've got the layout for what's going to happen, now all I need to do is write it… of course, when I post these you do realize that means I have like two or three others done :/ So in other words that means I'm writing A LOT these next few days.

* * *

_**On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me-  
**__Two turtles doves-  
__And a partridge in a pear tree._

_December 26th_

* * *

She couldn't believe it.

Cream had a normal day so far- she woke up, ate some breakfast, got ready (even though she knew she wasn't doing anything in particular), watched TV… nothing really. So when the doorbell rang she expected it to be some mailman with a package or some guy trying to sell her insurance for leaky pipes.

It was Tails.

She couldn't believe it.

She stood there with the cold wind blowing on her face, eyes scrunched from confusion, before she slowly let the fox in. He accepted the invitation immediately, for it _was_ cold out there, and he shed his outermost layer quickly. Vanilla poked her head around the wall to see who it was, and she smiled slowly before retreating back to her work.

"So," Cream started, watching as he loosened his scarf. "What brings you here?" He didn't respond to her query, instead he pulled something out of his jacket: her mug. The mug that she had given him the night before for his hot chocolate was what he had come to her house for.

"…What a lame excuse," she said bluntly, then laughed at his confused reaction. Nonetheless, she took it with a thanks, and then set it by the sink in her kitchen. He followed her in, and she turned back around to face him, leaning on the counter, cocking her head in question.

"Anything else?" she asked, and she was hoping he'd say yes.

"Err, yeah…" _Score!_, she thought. "Well, since I'm already here and I'm not really doing anything… uh, do you wanna go do something? Like a movie?"

Cream smiled wide, giggling at the wave of nervousness that washed over him. She knew it wasn't necessarily asking her on a date, but she wanted it nonetheless. She nodded, and she waited for his reaction a moment- which was a small smile- and then she rushed into her mother's office to tell her she was leaving.

"With Tails?" Vanilla asked, and when Cream clarified, the elder bunny sighed wistfully. "I guess so… just don't stay out too late. And be sure to wear plenty of layers!"

Cream nodded and dashed off to bundle up, and Vanilla sighed, putting down her pen. She couldn't believe how fast her daughter had grown up.

* * *

The fox and the bunny strolled around the park for a bit, enjoying the serene feeling the white landscape gave off whenever there was hardly anybody walking it, and they finally decided on having lunch before heading off to see whatever movie was playing. They decided on a quaint little café, one that Cream often went to on her lunch breaks, so she knew the staff pretty well.

They sat at a table by the window, and Cream watched the snowflakes fall gently and the occasional pedestrian speed-walking to get somewhere warm. She smiled, because she _loved_ winter- she loved layers and scarves and pretty coats and she loved the snow and hot chocolate and the whole peacefulness of a cold winter's day.

They ordered and they had small talk, and eventually, just as they were leaving for the movie theater, Cream thought she'd ask a question that she had on her mind recently.

"Tails."

"Yeah?"

"…What do you think it's gonna be like?" she asked, and she quickly added on before he questioned her. "You know, being an uncle."

Tails blinked in surprise, frowning a little. "I haven't really thought about it…"

Cream glanced at him, and automatically she knew he was lying. "You're lying," she voiced. "I mean, how could you _not_ think about it? Amy's due any day now, and you're going to be an uncle and I'm going to be an aunt!"

"We're not _really_ related," he started, but a 'don't-give-me-that-bull-' look from Cream shut him up. "You know that's how we are to them," she said.

Tails sighed and scratched his head as they turned a corner. "Well, yeah," he agreed, his breath visible in the cold air. "Yeah, I've thought about it."

"What do you think it's going to be like?"

Tails pondered for a minute, before answering, "I'd have to say it's like having a baby brother or sister."

Cream sighed. Another thing that was making her anticipate the birth was the fact that she had no idea what gender the baby was. Amy didn't want to know, and Sonic just kind of went along with her, so they had to wait until the date of birth before she figured out whether she had a niece or a nephew.

"Yeah, probably," she agreed. "Do you want it to be a boy or a girl?"

"It wouldn't matter to me either way."

The bunny nodded. "Yeah, probably. I mean, if it was a girl I could play with it and I'd get her a chao and I'd buy all these cute clothes for her," Cream droned on. She felt Tails watching her, and she figured he must be smiling. "But if it was a _boy_, he'd just be so adorable, and he'd be just like Sonic."

Cream laughed. "Can you imagine that? A mini-Sonic? Oh, that's be _so_ cute. Can you imagine how bad Amy would hover over that child?"

"I can," Tails agreed, laughing. Cream noticed she always did all the talking, and she hoped he didn't mind that. He didn't seem to be _too_ bored, but who knew? She mentally shrugged, telling herself not to worry about it.

"What movie do you want to see?" Tails asked as they approached the cinema. Cream frowned at the total lack of choices, and then they picked out a comedy.

As they approached the counter, Cream lowered her eyelids slyly and eyed Tails. "So, Tails," she started, and said fox glanced at her. Then, in confusion, he turned to look at her, eyebrows furrowed.

"Uh, yes?"

Cream grinned. "You're a gentleman, right?"

An adorable frown crept on to Tails face as he blushed, and it took a lot of will for Cream to not laugh. "Err, sure?"

Cream switched back to normal. "Good! Then you'll pay for my ticket. I left my money at home."

Tails gave her a skeptical look, and Cream laughed as he suddenly cracked a grin.

It was moments like these that made her happy.

* * *

Cream and Tails exited the movie theater, both not at all happy.

"What a terrible movie!" she exclaimed. "What in the world makes you think that little boys being chased around by a taco is _funny_?"

"I know," Tails groaned. "If you were anyone else, I'd make you give me a refund for that movie."

Cream grinned, flattered. "What about Amy?"

He suddenly looked rather frightened. "Um, her too," he corrected. "Because, she's scary when she's pregnant. Do you know how many times Sonic has seen her hammer in the last few days?"

"Bunches, I bet."

Tails nodded. "He told me that once he got smashed in the face because he bought the wrong kind of pickles."

The bunny held back a snort. "So what now?"

Tails shrugged. "I dunno. But I've got to work on a few things at home," he glanced at her quickly. "But you can stay if you like. If it doesn't bore you…"

"Sure," she chirped, and the duo headed towards Tails' workshop, located near his house. Secretly, Cream loved Tails' workshop. She loved all the cool gadgets he had and she loved watching Tails work on his inventions and the whatnot. It was his element, and she found that he acted his most natural there.

They arrived at his workshop- a giant metal garage, basically- and she sat down in the chair she always occupied over there and watched him slide under his plane. He never asked her if she wanted something to drink, something to eat, because he knew that if she _really_ wanted something, she'd get it herself.

Cream eyed his swishing tails from under the plane. "So. Tails."

"Hm?"

She grinned. "Can I call you Uncle Tails from now on?"

He didn't say anything, but she heard him mutter, "She just keeps bringing it up."

She repeated her question, and he slid out from under the plane to look at her, challenging her with his eyes. "Only if I can call you Aunt Cream."

The bunny frowned. "But that doesn't even have a nice ring to it. Yours does. So you can't call me that."

"Sure I can."

She stuck her tongue out at him, even though he couldn't see it. "Well, then, Mr. Uncle Tails. I see how it is."

He chuckled, something in which she reveled in. He had _such_ a deep voice now.

She tugged on her blouse, trying to find a conversation topic. "Sooo… you see Sonic more than I do. How's he doing? Amy said he's been real skittish lately."

"He has been," he agreed. "I heard that Amy woke him up in the middle of the night once for some Chinese food but he already had the hospital in his hand and he was halfway out the door."

Cream laughed, just imagining it. "That's hilarious."

"But he's real nervous, you know."

"Sonic the Hedgehog, nervous? Never," she replied sarcastically. Sonic was known (by his friends) to get extremely nervous around Amy and about anything regarding Amy and anything about him and Amy in the future.

It was adorable.

"You have no idea how many times Sonic has come here to ask _me_ what to do," Tails continued. "It's ridiculous, because I have no idea what to do around a pregnant lady or what to do with newborns." Tails paused for a second, the sound of his tools clanging around taking over. "I mean, it's not like I have experience or anything."

"But doesn't it make you happy that Sonic trusts you enough with all this?"

Tails slid out from under the plane and sat up, leaning back against his work. "Well, yeah," he said, frowning at little. "But I just don't like the fact that I can't really help him."

Cream smiled reassuringly, and she knew she was getting into her 'comforting mode,' as Amy put it. "Tails, believe me when I say that I know you're doing good. Because if you weren't, Sonic would come to me," she said. "And he hasn't. So you're doing much better than you think you are."

Tails smiled at her. "Thanks, Cream."

She shook her head. "No prob." She glanced at the clock. "I better head home though. It's getting dark. See you later, Tails?"

He nodded. "Do you need a ride?"

Cream shook her head and pointed to her ears. She waved goodbye to her companion, and then flew towards her house. She didn't know that Tails watched her until he couldn't see her anymore, just like she had done to him the night before.

* * *

**A/N: **Review, please? And alert too(: Thanks for reading!


	3. Three French Hens

A/N: Bleh. This is almost a filler chapter.

* * *

_**On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me-  
**__Three French hens-  
__Two turtle doves-  
__And a partridge in a pear tree._

_December 27th_

* * *

A plushie. Some money. A really cute dress just her size. Some scarves. A cell phone case. Other stuff. And then there was a locket.

Cream pondered on Tails' selection in gifts.

When he had given it to her on Christmas, he had been very subtle about it. Instead of calling attention to everyone, he slipped it to her when Espio was opening an amusing gift from Sonic and when Amy was gushing over how cute the baby rattles were that Rouge got her.

He'd given her a small smile as she gently tore open the gold paper with swirls (okay, so she opened the wrapping paper so they could reuse it. What's the big deal?), and her eyes had widened at the black velvet case.

Any girl knew what that meant: jewelry.

Because she was Cream, she over thought things, so at that moment she started jumping to conclusions. She tried to reason herself that maybe he couldn't think of anything to get her, so he bought her jewelry? That's how guys thought, right?

She tried not to stare at it too long, and she had opened the case and gasped. Inside was a beautiful silver heart locket. The heart had massive detail, with swirls and rhinestones, and it was on a simple silver chain. She removed it from the box and had held it in her two hands, then tested to see if the locket opened.

It did, and she could imagine what pictures she'd put in there.

She knew for a fact that she'd put Cheese in there. Cheese was a good memory, and she would enjoy having his picture in the locket. She wanted to put Tails in there- especially because he had gotten it for her- but that would seem weird if someone opened it and they weren't even _dating_.

So she had put the locket back in it's box and placed it in a pile with her other gifts. Then she turned to Tails and gave him a small smile, saying her thanks quietly. He had blushed and shook his head, then opened his gift from her. She had gotten him two things: a new wrench to replace one that he had ended up breaking (how he did that, she had no idea), and some aviator goggles that made him look glomp-worthy.

So now, in her room, folding laundry, she thought about her gift. Ever since she had gotten it, it had been sitting inside the case on her dresser. She wanted to wear it, but it was a _locket_, so she had to put something in it. And having just one picture in it would bug her, but she couldn't find an alternative. Amy, maybe? No, that didn't feel right. And having her mother in there would just be weird because it was given to her by her _crush_.

Cream huffed, and hung up a dress, finishing her laundry. She made her way over to her dresser and opened the velvet box, taking out the locket. She went ahead and cut out a picture of Cheese and placed it in one side. She put it on anyway, admiring the way it was just the right length, and then went to do another load of clothes.

She ran into her mother on the way to the washing machine, who swerved out of her way with a basket. Suddenly, Vanilla stopped, and then turned to eye her daughter suspiciously. Cream was unaware- she was loading clothes in the washing machine- and Vanilla put the basket on her hip.

"Cream?"

"Yeah?"

"Where'd you get that necklace?"

Cream blinked. How did she _do _that?

She stood upright and turned to face her mother, fingering the necklace absentmindedly. "Um, Tails gave it to me for Christmas. Why?"

Vanilla didn't reply, instead she smiled and cocked her head. "It's a locket, right?"

"Yes."

"Oh?" Vanilla asked, shifting her weight so her basket didn't slip. "Do you have any pictures in it yet?"

"Yes, one of Cheese."

"What about the other one?"

"There's nothing in there yet."

Vanilla smiled wider, her grin almost becoming a smirk. "And why not?"

"Um," Cream tried to play indifferent. "Because I haven't decided which picture I wanted to go in there yet."

"Who do you have in mind?"

Cream blushed. To tell, or not to tell? It be hard keeping it from her mother, and she knew that Vanilla would just keep on hinting. But if she told, she wouldn't leave it alone, and her mother might even go as far as to _ask_ Tails for a picture of himself.

Not that Cream didn't have one already.

Cream made up her mind and smiled at her mother. "A few people."

The younger bunny turned to finish her work, and Vanilla rolled her eyes behind her back. Her daughter was so oblivious to how much mothers knew. Vanilla made her way to the stairs and turned to tell her daughter one last thing.

"Oh, and Cream?"

"Yeah, mom?"

Vanilla smiled. "Next time, just tell me it's Tails, and I'll leave you alone."

Cream frowned as she turned the washing machine on. She thought about it all the way up to her room. In fact, she was starting to get a little _impatient_.

She was almost one hundred percent positive that Tails liked her. But, Cream was an avid believer in men taking the initiative, and she had been waiting a long time for Tails to step up and ask her out. Cream was starting to get… discouraged.

She felt that it'd just be weird for her to ask him. Sure, it'd be the same, but she just didn't think she was up for it. She'd been hinting for so long, and he'd come so close sometimes, but nervousness took him over or _something_.

Perhaps that was the reason why he hadn't asked yet. Maybe he was just super nervous.

Cream didn't know, but she needed some serious girl help. She'd call Amy, but she knew that Amy was out with Sonic buying last minute things for the nursery. Her mom was just plain embarrassing, Blaze probably wasn't too skilled in that department, so that left…

The bunny sighed. Looked like she'd have to resort to _her_ help.

She picked up her phone and plopped down on her bed, waiting for the dial tone to stop. She answered eventually, her smooth voice ringing through Cream's ears.

"Hello?"

"Um, Rouge?"

"Yeah. What's the problem, Cream?"

Cream played with the tassels on one of her pillows. "Um, I kinda need some advice."

"Shoot."

"Well," she hesitated. It was much more difficult telling people than she thought. "So, there's this guy-"

"Tails, right?" The bat guessed, and Cream's mouth dropped open in shock. Rouge laughed and she made an amused sound. "Oh, sugar, don't act so surprised. It's obvious."

The bunny frowned. "Obvious? Oh yeah, what about you and Knuckles?"

"Yes, well, he's too dense to realize that he's blatant about his affections."

Cream couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, well, anyways, I need help."

The rabbit heard a few dings in the background and then a ringing sound played, followed by 'jackpot!' and a shout from Rouge. Cream ignored the fact that she was probably intoxicated and she was gamblining away all her money."What's fox boy doing now?"

"Nothing, that's the thing!" she groaned. "He's not doing anything! He's being sweet and we went somewhere yesterday and for Christmas he got me a locket, but he's not making any moves!"

Rouge sighed. "Oh, honey, you're just like Amy."

"…What?"

"You're just like her. She always wanted Sonic to make the first move."

Cream scoffed. "Of course. That explained why she chased him around asking for dates."

"Sure," Rouge agreed. "But that's Amy's way of hinting. If he said yes to anything, to her it just wasn't the same as him asking her out."

Cream frowned, her lower lip jutting out. That was _so_ true. The bat continued on. "Anyways, what I'm trying to say is to not be like that. Sure, I understand the guy making the first move, but it's not always going to happen like that. Besides, this is Tails. He's probably too nervous to ask you anything."

Sighing, the rabbit tugged on her hair, thinking. "So… you're saying that I need to do something?"

"Mmhm," the bat agreed. "How do you think I got Knuckie anyways?"

She giggled, and then thanked Rouge for her help. After she hung up, Cream flopped on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She understood Rouge's advice, understood that he probably was nervous.

But then there was her negative side that was pointing out what could happen and how _embarrassed _she'd be. Her internal debate continued, and Cream groaned into her pillow, her indecision tearing her mentality apart.

She just didn't know _what to do._

**A/N: **Okay, so sure Rouge doesn't necesarily seem like the most reliable person to ask, but I want Cream to interact with a variety of characters, so she called Rouge instead. She was going to show up anyways, but instead of what I had her doing later on in the chapter, I moved her to here. Anyways, sorry for the late update- Christmas and all that stuff- and now I'd like to say that I can pretty much assume that we'll be on schedule, maybe one or two days with two chapters posted. Anyways, thanks for reading, and please review!(:


	4. Four Calling Birds

**A/N:** I think I'm losing my touch, haha. Man. I need to start writing better.

* * *

_**On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me-  
**__Four calling birds-  
__Three French hens-  
__Two turtles doves-  
__And a partridge in a pear tree._

_December 28__th__._

* * *

"What do you think of this one?"

"It makes you look pregnant."

Amy narrowed her eyes at her shopping partner. "I wonder why that is?"

Cream put up her hands in defense and stood quietly as Amy contemplated another blouse. They were shopping for clothes for Amy after she had her child, which seemed rather ridiculous to Cream. "Amy, are you _sure_ that shopping right now is a good idea?"

The hedgehog rolled her eyes and made a dirty look towards a shopper who was skeptically looking at her, probably wondering why a completely preggers lady was shopping in the petite section. "Of course it is! After I give birth, I'm going to be right back to what size I was before!"

Cream sighed as Amy shoved another pair of pants in her direction. She grabbed hold of them. "But what if you don't lose all the weight?"

Amy spun around towards her. "What are you saying?"

Cream opened her mouth to explain, but Amy cut her off. "Look, I don't care if I come out of birth weighing fifty more pounds than I did before, but I'm going to work my way down, I _promise_!" She declared.

The rabbit picked up a shirt and handed it to Amy for approval, whispering, "What about your boobs?"

Amy blinked. "Well, I mean, they haven't grown _that_ big-"

"Oh, _whatever_-"

"Shut it, Cream," Amy hissed. "Everything will be fine. Besides," and at this she grinned. "Bigger is better, yes?"

Cream scoffed. "You disgust me."

Amy smiled, and led her shopping partner to another rack of clothes. Cream plopped on the cushioned bench beside it, tired already. Amy spoke to her as she frowned at a gaudy halter dress. "So, how've you been?"

"Good," she replied. "How about you? The baby?"

Amy sighed. "It's been driving me crazy. I mean I love the baby to death but it just has to stop being so painful."

The rabbit twirled a lock of hair as she played with her phone. "I've heard from Mom that's it gets more painful as they grow up."

Amy glared at her and sighed. "Don't remind me."

Cream frowned. "I hope you're not like Mom is. She can sense anything that's wrong with me. I see her for two seconds and she notices whenever I have a different necklace on. She's so _weird._"

The sakura hedgehog shrugged. "I honestly think that'd be a good thing." She glanced at her friend and quirked a brow. "Where did you get that necklace anyway? You said yourself that you're not a necklace person."

That's when Cream remembered that she really didn't like necklaces and the fact that Tails got her the locket just made her forget. Absentmindedly, she fingered the locket. Once she came to her senses, she realized that touching the heart-shaped locket had became her thinking habit. The bunny frowned. She had fallen for him bad, hadn't she?

"Earth to Cream? You're not answering me. And I asked you about these pants twice."

Cream's head shot up. "Err, sorry. Um, they're okay, but the bejeweled pockets are a bit much."

Amy nodded, throwing the pants back on the shelf. "Thought so," she said, and motioned her friend to follow her. She turned her head back to look at Cream. "So, the locket? It's a locket right?"

"Yeah, it's a locket."

"Where'd you get it? It's cute. Did you buy it with your Christmas bonus?"

"So many questions," she muttered. "I didn't buy it."

Amy stopped and turned to her. "Oh?" Her emerald orbs suddenly became mischievous and they sparkled.

"Who gave it to you, then?"

At Amy's intense stare, a blush arose on her face. She fingered the locket again. "Um, Tails gave it to me for Christmas…"

Amy gasped and a huge grin broke on her face, and she bombarded Cream with questions. "Ooh, did he? Aww, that's so sweet! Has he made any moves? Have you gone on a date? Or wait, are you already his girlfriend?"

Blushing still, Cream pushed the hedgehog out of her face, and she managed a small frown. "No, no, and no."

Amy stopped her forward behavior and furrowed her brows. "Wait, so he hasn't done anything?"

She shook her head. "Not a thing. I mean we went to lunch the other day, then the movies, and then back to his workshop for a bit, but we've done that before so it's not anything new, you know?"

Amy scowled and went back to browsing, throwing another blouse over her shoulder. Cream wondered to herself if Amy even had enough money to pay for all the clothes she had in her hand. "So, what you're saying is that for the past two years he _hasn't_ made an official move?"

Cream cocked her head towards Amy. "It hasn't been two years-"

Amy gave her a warning glance. "Oh, honey, to you it might not have, but Sonic and I have been waiting for the day whenever he sucks it up and asks you out for years."

The rabbit huffed and blew some of her bangs out of her face. "Okay, sure, whatever. But still. I'm a patient person, really, but by now I'm just getting a little restless."

"I'm sorry, Cream," Amy sighed. "I wish I could tell you what to do."

"How did you get Sonic to ask you out?"

Amy smiled, obviously remembering something. "Haven't I told you this story a hundred times?"

The bunny shrugged, and she continued. "Anyways, I don't really know how it came up. I mean I guessed I laid off him, you know, with the requests for dates and everything, but I'd been doing that for a while. Anyways, I was shopping for Knuckles' birthday, and he came up and found me and asked me what I thought I should get him. And then I said, 'Don't you think that you would know better than I would?' And then-"

Cream interrupted her. "Can I get the condensed version, please?"

Scoffing, the hedgehog went on. "_Fine_. Okay, so, I went shopping with him and we had a good time and then we ate dinner at a chili dog restaurant and then he walked me home and asked me out!" Amy smiled as she made her way to the checkout counter. "So basically, I'd say it's a matter of being yourself and being patient. Though, maybe for you it'd work better if _you_ made a move."

Cream thought about Amy's words as she waited for her friend to pay for her merchandise. That was the second person to tell her that she should be the one to make a move. She guessed that meant that she would have to be the one to 'suck it up', as Amy put it. But that meant hours of planning the situation and trying to not doubt herself, which sounded way too difficult for her.

Cream took a bag from Amy as the two girls exited the department store. "You're the second person to tell me that, you know."

Amy looked both ways then looked at the rabbit. "Who was the first? Vanilla?"

"No," Cream shook her head. "Rouge."

The hedgehog laughed. "Oh, man, when did you talk to Rouge?"

Blushing, Cream shifted the bag to her other arm. "Um, last night. You were busy so I knew not to call you."

Amy nodded. "And what'd she say? Oh, where do you want to eat?"

"I don't care," she replied. "But she told me to, and I quote, 'to not be like Amy.' She said something about you waiting for Sonic to make the move."

Amy blushed, though probably from anger. "What? The next time I see that stupid bat-"

"Err," Cream interrupted. "Anyways, um, so I'm probably going to do just that."

"Just what?" Amy asked, settling down as they entered a place to eat.

After their waitress seated them and Amy had gotten comfortably into the booth, Cream continued on. "I'm probably going to be the one to make a move."

Amy nodded, reading the menu. "Good for you. I hope it goes well."

Cream groaned and buried her head in her hands. "I just don't know what to do."

Amy looked up and reassuringly put a hand on her friends'. "Cream, don't worry. It'll come to you. Tails likes you too much for anything to go wrong."

Still disbelieving, the bunny looked up at her best friend. "You think so?"

Amy smiled, her eyes sparkling with confidence. "I know so."

* * *

After their lunch, Amy invited Cream back to her house. She happily obliged, thinking that an afternoon away from her house where she'd wallow in indecision had to be better for her. Sonic had been out for a run- still one of his habits- when they'd gotten there, but he'd returned just whenever Amy had plopped on the couch, complaining about how exhausted her feet were.

"Hey, babe," Sonic greeted with a peck on the cheek. "Hey Cream. How was shopping?"

Cream replied with a generic 'Good,' while Amy went into a lecture about how rude the shoppers there were because of a pregnant lady shopping in the petite department.

"-and there were like four ladies that looked at me like, 'what the hell are you doing shopping in the petite section you fat bitch'? And I gave them all dirty looks but I still don't think that did anything…" Amy sighed, trailing off, unconsciously rubbing her hand on her swollen belly. "But other than that, it was good."

Sonic laughed nervously, still uncomfortable with his wife's mood swings. "Heh, okay then."

Amy sat up and pulled her husband down to sit beside her, while Cream stretched out in front of the fire. "So, Sonikku, there's a little something that you have to do for me," Amy glanced towards the rabbit lounging in front of the fire. "And Cream."

At the sound of her name, Cream turned her head towards the couple on the couch, the blue hedgehog looking at the two women with mild curiosity with a hint of worry. "Okay," he said slowly. "What is it?"

Grinning, Amy pointed towards her friend. "See that necklace that she's got on?"

Cream groaned, knowing what was coming up: embarrassment. "Oh no," she muttered. "Why, why, why?"

Sonic nodded. "Err, yeah I guess. What about it?"

Still grinning, Amy faced her husband, her emerald eyes sparkling once again with mischief. "_Guess _who gave that to her?"

Dense as always, Sonic cocked his head and answered, "Um, you?"

Amy deadpanned. "No. Try again."

"Vanilla."

"What the- no, Sonic! My god! _Tails_ gave it to her!"

Sonic nodded. "Oh," he said, and then once it hit him, he said with a lot more meaning, "_Oh_."

Cream groaned in embarrassment and Amy laughed in a way similar to a cackle. "Yes! Exactly! And apparently Tails isn't making any moves-"

"Amy!" Cream protested.

The hedgehog ignored her. "-And Cream's getting impatient so _maybe_ a little kick from his surrogate older brother would get him to do something?"

Still hiding her face in embarrassment, Cream muttered something along the lines of 'Save me dear Lord from this insane woman,' and then she gave her best death glare to her best friend (unbeknownst to Cream, her death glare was actually quite cute).

Sonic smirked and chuckled. "Ehh, Cream? Getting cozy with my buddy, huh?"

"Um, _no, Sonic-"_

"Well, she would if he was making any moves," Amy said as she snuggled into her husband, the latter putting his arm around her automatically. "But he's not. So you go talk to him."

Cream glared at the couple and stood up. "You know what? I'm going home."

Amy laughed and waved. "Have a fantastic walk home!"

Cream, being the good girl she was, resisted the urge to flip her off, and then she focused on how she was going to endure a thirty minute flight back to her house. With a wave and a somewhat-smile directed towards the two hedgehogs, she left their adobe. She flew home in the snow, and upon opening her door, she found her mother lounging on their couch, eating cookies.

Cream figured she was PMS-ing.

Vanilla looked up. "Hello, dear. How was shopping with Amy?"

The name echoed in her head. With a scowl, she stomped up the stairs, muttering "Just peachy, Mom. Just peachy." She hoped that Sonic wouldn't take things too far.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, review please? It would mean bunches…(: Anyways, yes. Expect the next chapter either ridiculously late tonight or tomorrow. Ciao!


	5. Five Golden Rings

A/N: Vector is such a character, haha. He cracks me up to no end. I think that he'd be a cool dad to Cream, but no fanfics ever seem to touch that aspect… oh well. It's not like I did majorly anyway. I love this chapter~!

* * *

_**On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me-  
**__Five golden rings-  
__Four calling birds-  
__Three French hens-  
__Two turtle doves-  
__And a partridge in a pear tree._

_December 29th_

* * *

Contrary to most belief, cleaning was actually on Cream's list of _least_ favorite things to do.

And conveniently, that's what she was doing now.

Cleaning.

Cream frowned deeply as she scrubbed plates. Her mother always got like this whenever somebody came over for a luncheon or something. Today it was Vector- and Cream's reasoning was that they'd been going steady for three years now so _why_ did they still have to clean up for him? Obviously, she thought as got splashed in the face with soapy water, her mother didn't understand.

She finished the dishes and with her mother's consent, she ran off upstairs to get changed. She liked Vector- she really did- he was funny and sweet and a generally good person to be around. Cream liked how happy he made her mother, and she didn't mind being in his presence that much either.

Cream slipped on some jeans, a white t-shit with a navy blue blazer and braided her hair. She heard the doorbell ring and she almost left her room before something on her dresser caught her eye: her locket. With the big deal that her mother and Amy and _probably_ Sonic were making of it, it wouldn't surprise her if her and Tails' became the next big thing in their big circle of friends.

In the back of her head, Cream wished for something bigger to happen to make everyone forget about her stupid necklace.

With a sigh, she clasped the locket around her neck and made her way down the stairs to find her mother and Vector embracing. Once they separated, he grinned and greeted Cream.

"Hey there kid!" he said, and playfully ruffled her hair (which he knew that Cream didn't like). Frowning, she swatted his hand away, but then her face softened into a smile.

"Hey, Vector," she replied, and he grinned before turning to her mother.

The crocodile- who was obnoxiously loud, but his friends were quite used to it- grinned and leaned on the counter coolly. "So what's for lunch, 'Nilla?"

The elder bunny smiled and listed off the menu, while Cream nibbled on a scone. Eventually, the trio made it to the table and they all piled the food onto their plates, Vector's plate significantly larger than the other two.

"So Cream," Vector started. "How are you and Tails?"

Cream started choking, and Vanilla patted her mouth with her napkin, and with a faint smile she whispered, "Oh, my."

Composing herself, Cream turned to look at the smirking crocodile. "How did you, uh, hear about that?"

Vector sat back in his chair, preparing himself for a long talk. "Well, Espio told me. He said that Charmy told him. So I went and asked Charmy and he said that Knuckles told him whenever he was in town yesterday. He heard from Rouge, who heard from Amy that you two were, and I quote, 'hooking up.'"

Her mouth was agape for a moment, and Vector laughed. "News travels fast, doesn't it?"

Groaning, Cream put her head in her hands. "Gosh, who doesn't know?"

Still grinning, Vector shrugged. "Probably Tails. I'm pretty sure Shadow knows, though… he and Sonic are rather close with things nowadays."

Cream frowned the rest of lunch, hardly listening to her mother and Vector's animated conversations. She missed the story of how the Chaotix got a client the other day, she missed the story about Espio getting attacked by Charmy with his own shuriken, and she missed the story about Vector's difficult journey that he went on to find her mother's Christmas present.

She missed all of that because she was thinking of Tails.

She really hoped that he wasn't hearing all this hype about them, because she knew that if he did it'd be way too awkward whenever they were around each other. And God forbid that the two of them hang out around any other people, because they'd get teased endlessly. What friends they had.

Vector and Vanilla stood up to put their dishes up, and she followed their lead. Feeling a wave of boredom wash over her, she sighed and got the duo's attention. "I'm heading upstairs," she said. "Call me if you need me."

With a wave and a nod from Vanilla, Cream headed up the stairs. Upon reaching the top, she realized that she didn't have her phone, and she turned back around to go and fetch it. Vector's voice reached her ears, and she stopped at what he was saying.

"…So you're okay with it all?"

"Well," her mother said quietly, and Cream ducked behind the wall to avoid being seen. She hadn't done this in a long time. "I don't mind her being with Tails at all. He's such a good boy, and I have my trust placed in him."

"Then what is it?"

Her mother hesitated, and worry began to eat at Cream's heart. She really hoped that her mother wasn't going to say something that would make her forever ponder her decision. "I'm just afraid for her to be getting into this. To get her heart broken, and to have to go through all the hardships of being in a relationship." Vanilla sighed. "But, I guess she's got a stable head, so I'm sure she'll be fine."

Cream frowned. That was true, but she knew that she'd get through it. She knew how many times Amy had come to her, crying because of something stupid Sonic did, but to be back with him the very next day like nothing happened. She wasn't so sure she could bounce back quite as fast as her sakura hedgehog friend could, but she was patient, so she figured that she could manage well.

She treaded up the stairs quietly, and then bounded back down them, making sure that she didn't show any sign of hearing her mother's conversation. They hardly noticed her as she took her phone, and then she made her way up into her room once more.

Laying down on her bed, she eventually fell asleep, dreaming of two-tailed foxes with planes, bright blue eyes and toothy yawns who gave rabbits heart-shaped necklaces.

* * *

"Cream, honey, wake up."

Said rabbit's eyes cracked opened slowly, and the image of her mother slowly blurred into view. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, and once her vision was cleared, she noticed her mother awkwardly standing at the foot of her bed.

"Um, what's the problem, Mom?"

Vanilla sat down, and fiddled with her dress. "I think we need to talk, Creamy."

Cream knew what this was about from her snooping session earlier on. She nodded and waited for her mom to talk, who looked like she was struggling for words. Eventually she opened her mouth to speak, her chocolate brown eyes focused on her daughter.

"Cream," she said. "You and Tails aren't… in a relationship right now, are you?"

Blinking, she shook her head. "No, not yet."

"Not yet," Vanilla repeated quietly. Cream became nervous at her mother's unusual silence, for she tended to be quite forward whenever she was asking something. "Cream, do you think you're ready for a commitment like this?"

Furrowing her brows and frowning, she suddenly felt like a child. "I'd like to say I am."

With a small smile and a sigh, Vanilla stood up and faced her daughter. "Okay, then. That's all I need to know," she looked down then. "I guess I'm just sad because you seem so grown up now. But at least it's Tails… he's a good boy. I rather like him."

She smiled, and responded quietly. "I'm glad, Mom."

Vanilla nodded and left her room, leaving Cream to think about Tails. That was all she seemed to think about these days: Tails, Tails, more Tails, Chao, her job, Amy, Tails, her mom, and Tails.

Speaking of her job, Cream remembered that she had an evening shift at the Chao store that night. Glancing at her clock, she realized that it was about three-thirty, and she let out a mild curse and dashed out of bed to get ready. She quickly took off her blazer and her shirt and threw on her sky blue and yellow collared shirt. She attached her nametag, which said "Hi, my name is CREAM," and then re-applied her makeup before grabbing her yellow apron and dashing out of her room.

"Hey, Mom," she shouted, and she found her cleaning up dishes. "Did I tell you I had an evening shift tonight?"

Frowning slightly, Vanilla turned off the water. "No, you didn't," she replied, drying off a plate. "Are you closing?"

Shaking her head, she responded. "Doubt it. I'll be back around nine or ten, okay? Love you Mom!"

With a sign, Vanilla watched her daughter fly off towards her job. Her _job_. And a _boyfriend_. And a _salary of her own_.

She really just couldn't believe how grown up she was.

* * *

"That'll be $19.74, sir."

Cream tried to keep a smile on for the lifeless man buying Chao food and some toys. She was trying her hardest, but this guy was sucking the joy out of her. He handed her a twenty and muttered, "Keep the change," before leaving.

"Thanks for the twenty-six cents, sir," she grumbled sarcastically. She put the bill in the registered and raised her head for her next customer, and nice looking old lady who she had seen frequently in the last few weeks.

"Hello," she smiled. "Did you find everything you needed?"

The old woman smiled. "Yes, dear. It's nice to see you again," and then the lady leaned a bit closer. "That cat that worked here the past few days is nothing but pleasant."

Cream giggled as she rang up the merchandise. She knew exactly who the lady was talking about. She told the old lady her total and put her receipt in the bag, waving as she left the store. Cream finished up the next two people in line and then sighed, reaching under her counter to find the remnants of her dinner that she had to snack on in between customers.

Her boss- the nice lady who gave Cream her Christmas bonus- came up behind her. "Alright, you've done good. I'll have Clarisse take over whenever she gets here, and then you can just stock up the shelves and then go."

Cream smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Mrs. Scott." She checked out three more customers before Clarisse dragged her feet through the door. Clarisse wasn't the most pleasant of people- she was the cat that the lady had told her about- so Cream waved her over and quickly told her she was to take over the counter. With a frown, the cat did so, and Cream made her way to the boxes of Chao food so she could restock.

She put bag after bag of dried Chao fruit up on the shelf, making way for the customers that came though her aisle. Eventually, she had finished that section, so she unfolded the box and moved on to the accessories department, where she was putting up cute little bow ties that reminded her of Cheese.

She really missed him. He had died a year and a half back from a sickness- and probably from old age. She had been expecting it, but it hadn't made it any easier whenever she woke up one morning and he was dead weight on the foot of her bed.

She shook her head to rid herself of her thoughts, and then hung up three blue bowties. Someone cleared her throat beside her, and she automatically moved over and looked up quickly, expecting a customer. Instead, she got Charmy.

"Err, well, hello there Charmy."

Said bee smiled and greeted her back. She finished up the bowties and moved over to the collars, her friend following her. "So what are you doing here?" she asked, genuinely curious at his visit. They hadn't hung out in years, and she remembered having a crush on him growing up. She had grown out of him- it was his behavior- but she didn't know if he ever grew out of her.

She sure hoped so.

"I honestly don't know," he replied, putting a finger to his chin. "Vector told me to come find you here and walk you home, something about 'mixing it up,' whatever _that_ means…"

Cream twitched as she finished the collars. She was going to kill that crocodile.

She composed herself and finished restocking. "Well, I'm almost done here, so we can leave soon."

"Hey," the bee drawled out, and she looked at him curiously only to find his eyes half-lidded. She sighed. Flirts will always be flirts she decided, but she smiled nonetheless. "Why don't we go and do something before I take you home?"

Frowning, she clocked out of her shift and waved to Mrs. Scott before answering. "I don't know, Charmy…"

The bee persisted. "Come _on_, Cream! When was the last time we did anything?"

Cream frowned. It _had _been a long time… and it wasn't like it was a date or anything. Besides, she got out of work early and her mother wasn't expecting her home until ten…

"Fine," she replied. "But I want you to know that I have nothing with me but my phone so there's no way I'm paying for anything."

Charmy smirked. "Got you covered. So, have you had dinner yet? I know a really cool restaurant that serves these kick-ass…"

The duo walked off into the night to get dinner, Cream's tinkling giggle echoing throughout the night air as she laughed at his description of a burger. Unbeknownst to Cream, turning the corner was Sonic and Tails, the latter looking extremely hurt, while his older friend wondered how Charmy was going to complicate things.

* * *

A/N: OH I AM SO COOL I KNOW. Just kidding. But Charmy isn't really my favorite or anything but I just like the idea of him being a total flirt. And Vector… Vector's good. Vector has an idea. Review, please?


	6. Six Geese a Laying

**A/N: **Haha oh man Cream has screwed herself over. Oh! And I made Snuggie and Real Housewives of *insert city name here* allusions! …and I obviously don't own those. Special thanks to **Kurumi-chan **and **firerose9318 **for all the reviews!(:

* * *

_**On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me-  
**__Six geese-a-laying-  
Five golden rings-  
__Four calling birds-  
__Three French hens-  
__Two turtle doves-  
__And a partridge in a pear tree._

_December 30th__._

* * *

"_And for three easy payments of $12.87 this wonderful piece of merchandise can be _yours-"

Cream switched the channel. She really didn't want a backwards robe.

She sighed as she just abandoned all hope of finding something decent to watch on TV. Her mother was out grocery shopping, and with all that coupon clipping crap that she did, it took her hours to get done. So she basically had a whole afternoon to herself.

With nothing to do.

And it was _raining_.

Frowning, she got up and got her a snack- carrots (okay, she was a rabbit and she liked carrots. What was the big deal?) and returned to watching some retarded TV show about women with money who acted fake around each other. She munched on her snack, feeling rather irritable, whenever her phone rang.

She answered it with a casual 'hello?' and was greeted with an onslaught of fury.

"Why in the _hell_ would you go out on a _date_ whenever _I'm_ trying to hook you up?"

Cream blinked. "Err, Amy?"

The hedgehog scoffed. "_What_?"

Cream grimaced, suddenly worried. "Um, what are you talking about? I haven't gone out on any dates."

"Bullshit," Amy shouted. "Last night you were with Charmy!"

It wasn't often that Amy got mad at her- really, it hardly happened- and the same went for Cream getting mad at Amy. But she felt a little bit of irritation build up in the pit of her stomach, and the terrible day she had been having so far wasn't helping. "Yes, I was with Charmy. But it wasn't a _date_. We went out for dinner and then we went home. If it makes you feel any better, _I _didn't ask for him to pick me up from work, _Vector_ did."

"…Oh."

"Yeah," Cream said, frowning. She was happy her mom wasn't home. "So _nothing_ happened, so chill out?"

Amy sighed. "Sorry. I overreacted. But that's not what Sonic told me."

"Sonic?" the rabbit clarified.

"Yeah, Sonic. He and Tails were out last night getting parts for the X-Tornado whenever they saw you and Charmy. He told me that you two were on a date, and well, Tails…"

"Oh, _no_," Cream said. She _knew_ she shouldn't have gone out with him, but… she didn't know that Tails would see her!

Amy laughed nervously. "Um, well if it makes you feel any better, he was pretty sad about it, so he does really like you!"

"How is _that_ supposed to make me feel better?"

"I dunno… but I have a plan!"

Cream groaned. Amy and her plans were very dangerous sometimes. "…Might as well tell me. Nothing else can happen."

She could almost _hear_ Amy grinning on the other side of the phone. "Okay, so, call Tails after this because you're bored. Okay? And then, _casually_ bring up what you did last night and then say how you two hung out but how _weird_ it was."

"It wasn't weird-"

"I'm _trying_ to get you a boyfriend here, okay?"

Cream sighed, and listened to Amy explain the rest of her 'master plan'. It was rather simple, and quite mundane, but she figured it was the best she had. So, she departed with Amy, gathered up some confidence, ate some carrots, and dialed Tails' number.

Just kidding. He was on speed dial.

After four anticipating rings where Cream worried that he was ignoring her (totally forgetting the possibility that maybe he was away from his phone), the dial tone stopped and Cream's heart leapt into her throat. She wondered if Tails had caller ID…

"Hello?" he asked, and from his tone, she figured that he hadn't looked before picking it up… which was good.

"Hey, Tails!" she chirped, trying to not sound worried or fake.

"Oh… hey, Cream."

She frowned at the complicated sound of his voice. Ignoring it she continued on. "What are you doing? It's so boring today. It's raining and there's nothing on TV."

Cream heard the tinkering sounds in the background, which answered for him. "Adding some new things to the X-Tornado," he said. She could tell that he was making an effort to talk to her…

"So," she started, trying to come up with a way to approach the topic. "How've you been? It's been a few days since I've seen you."

"Good. You?"

"Good, I guess," she frowned, then figured out how to mention it. "So _guess_ what I did last night."

She heard the tinkering stop for a moment, and then it started again. "What?" he finally asked, and Cream gave him credit because he was doing a really good job of hiding his feelings.

"Charmy came by the store," she started, trying not to make it sound like something happened. "And he picked me up from work. He said that Vector sent him over to pick me up to 'mix things up,' whatever _that_ means," she said, even though she damn well knew what that meant.

Tails didn't say anything, so she continued on. "And so we went out and had dinner because I had been snacking on fries all night, and we went to this burger joint and- did you know this?- Charmy eats like a freaking _pig_."

Tails chuckled, which was a good sign. Cream kept going, her words forming in her head. "Anyways, it's disgusting. I'm glad I wasn't on a date or anything with him, because I can _not_ deal with someone who eats like that."

"Wait," Tails said suddenly, almost interrupting her. His deep voice was music to her long, floppy ears. "You weren't on a date?"

Cream smiled, and played clueless. "Err, no… with Charmy? Ha, that ship has sailed, my friend."

She knew that Tails was conscious of how they were those years ago, so she knew that last part wouldn't bother him. He spoke then. "Oh," he said, sounding quite hopeful. Or maybe she was just imagining it…? "Well, you had fun, yes?"

Cream sighed. "Yeah, I guess it was fun. We hadn't really hung out in a while, so it was nice. But I really just wanted to go home and sleep," she replied truthfully. Twirling a piece of her hair while watching a catfight on TV, she asked him a pointless question. "So what did you do last night?"

She was half-curious to see if he would lie to her or just tell her the truth. He hesitated, though he might have been working, then answered, "Went shopping with Sonic for parts for the plane."

Cream smiled, feeling herself again. "Sounds ridiculously _fun_."

"You know," Tails started. "It _is _fun. Or at least for me. Stuff like this is equivalent to girls shopping."

Cream laughed. "Psh, yeah, I see the connection there."

The two kept talking for the next hour, relieving Cream of her worry and her boredom. He had to leave to go test fly his plane- to make sure that everything was working right- so she cheerfully ended her call and quickly dialed Amy's number.

Amy didn't even greet her. "What took you so long? What happened?"

Cream retold the whole story with pride, and Amy cheered at the end. "Ooh, I knew it would work! Haha, my genius plan works again!" Amy and Cream laughed. "Oh, by the way, I yelled at Sonic for jumping to conclusions for you. He's out buying me some pickles right now, so you can't yell at him too, sorry."

The rabbit smiled fondly. "Only a few more days until no more pickles."

Amy cheered. "Yes! And I get my baby boy or girl!"

Cream laughed. "It's okay… I'm not gonna yell at Sonic. You can do it again for me."

The two females conversed about everything for the next forty-five minutes until Vanilla came home with tons and tons of groceries. Of course, she had hired someone to lug along the remaining groceries (poor guy had to walk through the cold pulling a giant wagon), so Cream rushed out to help unload.

After unloading and putting all the groceries up, Vanilla plopped on the couch, huffing from a long day at the grocery store. Cream smiled and greeted her mother properly, and her mother rested a few minutes before speaking.

"So," she started, sitting up. "I heard from Vector that you and Charmy went on a date last night."

Cream twitched. "It wasn't a _date_. Vector sent him out there to, and I quote, 'mix it up'!"

Vanilla raised a brow. "Mix it up? He said that?"

"That's what Charmy said that he said," she clarified. "He didn't even know why he was there with me anyways! And Sonic and Tails were out and saw us and they thought that Charmy and I were on a date and then I had to call Tails and indirectly tell him it wasn't!"

Vanilla blinked slowly after Cream spit out a long explanation. "Is there something you want me to do…?"

"Yes!" Cream nodded. "Tell him to please not 'mix it up' anymore!"

Cream's mother smiled slightly at her fuming daughter. "I'll tell him tomorrow."

The younger rabbit nodded, but then looked at her mother in question. "Wait, tomorrow is New Year's Eve, right?"

"Yes."

Cream threw her hands in the air. They were all going over to the Chaotix's new headquarters for New Year's Eve. "Well then I'll just tell him myself!"

Vanilla sighed as Cream ranted some more and then suddenly declared that she had to go get ready for an afternoon shift. Before she rushed upstairs to get changed, she paused at the stairs and told her mom, "And if I don't get home whenever I should be getting home, it's because Vector sent out Charmy again."

Vanilla quirked a brow. "You think he'll do it again tonight?"

Cream narrowed her eyes. "Oh, probably. It's best to just be prepared."

She rushed up the stairs then to get ready, leaving her mother behind on the couch, shaking her head disbelievingly.

* * *

She _knew_ it.

"Hey, Cream!"

It wasn't Charmy's fault, she told herself. It wasn't. But that didn't stop the bitter look from crossing her face as she locked eyes with the bee.

"Whoa, PMS-ing?"

Cream rolled her eyes and scanned his piece of beef jerky. She didn't even know why they sold those things. "That's a dollar," she said. "And no."

Charmy grinned and handed over the dollar before ripping into his beef jerky quite viciously. Cream wasn't getting off early today, so she figured that Charmy would have to wait at least thirty more minutes before she could talk to him. She didn't want to go out with him again, even though it wasn't the _worst_ time of her life… it just didn't feel right.

As she scanned fake Chao food, she devised a plan.

Making sure that Charmy was looking at the Chao through the window and that she had someone to temporarily cover her spot at the register, she shot off in search of her boss. She found Mrs. Scott sitting behind her desk doing paperwork, and the elder lady's head raised at her approach.

"Ah, Cream, is there something you needed?"

Cream nodded. "I have Chelsea covering my spot real quick, but I just need to make a _really _short phone call. Is that okay?"

Mrs. Scott looked rather apprehensive, but she waved off her employee to do whatever she pleased. Cream silently cheered and made her way to the staff room, whipping out her cell phone and holding down the appropriate speed dial button.

"Hello?"

"Tails, it's Cream. Listen. Are you free in like twenty minutes?"

"Err, yes? Why?"

Cream took a breath, hoping it'd work. "Well, Charmy is here at work again, and I'm pretty sure he wants to go do something after this, but I kinda don't want to, but I just can't blow him off. So I was _wondering_…" she trailed off, hoping he'd get the hint.

"…You want me to come by and say that we have plans?"

"_Yes_! Oh, you're the best Tails! Be here in twenty?"

"Um, I guess-"

"Thank you so much!" she said. "See you soon!"

She hung up and raced back to her register, looking perfectly natural. She shooed away Chelsea and made sure that Charmy was occupied, which he was- he was tapping the glass on a Chao cage. Cream frowned. He wasn't supposed to do that.

She checked out the customer and turned to face the bee. "Charmy, stop doing that."

The bee turned to look at her. "Why?"

Cream narrowed her eyes. "Because you're not supposed to."

For the next fifteen minutes, Cream waited very impatiently for Tails to show up. Charmy wondered through the store, looking rather stupid, before the bell ringed and she checked the door for the umpteenth time. She was pleased to see that it was a familiar fox with two tails that _always_ made her day.

"Tails!" she greeted, and said fox smiled and strolled over to her register. He nodded in return, and looked around.

"Where's Charmy?" he asked quietly, and Cream jerked her head in the bee's direction. Tails looked over, and Cream followed suit, only to find Charmy looking back at the two of them with a skeptical look. Cream thanked the being overhead that there was barely any customers in the store, and that the two boys wouldn't cause anything.

"Yo, Tails," Charmy greeted. "What are you doing here? I didn't know you had a Chao."

"I didn't," Tails replied. "I'm here to pick up Cream. Why are _you_ here?"

Charmy narrowed his eyes. "To pick up Cream."

Cream blinked. Well, this had backfired. She interrupted. "Sorry, Charmy, I meant to tell you but it slipped my mind… Tails had plans with me after work today."

The bee nodded, still looking at Tails. "That's cool. What are you doing?"

Tails didn't say anything, so she said the first thing that came to mind. "We're going out to dinner."

"But it's rather early," Charmy said, sort of challenging them.

This time Tails said something. "Well, we were going to go do something first. See a movie, you know."

The boys glanced at each other, and Cream couldn't help but think that the scene was one from a cliché high school romance movie with two jealous boys… and she _liked_ it. That was, until her boss entered her peripheral vision.

Cream excused herself and scurried off, meeting Mrs. Scott in her office. "What's going on out there?"

The rabbit blinked slowly. "Err, two friends having a small… disagreement?"

"Nothing's going to happen, right?" Mrs. Scott said, narrowing her eyes.

Cream shook her head. Charmy was certainly reckless, but Tails had a good head on his shoulders and he wouldn't do anything like that. "Not at all, ma'am. I can tell them to leave if you'd like."

Mrs. Scott sighed and shook her head. "No, that's not necessary. You only have ten minutes left of your shift anyway. Just clock out and leave, okay?"

Cream nodded and thanked her boss before dashing out to find Chelsea covering her spot, Charmy and Tails hovering off to the side. Charmy had on a black hoodie- one that she had seen him sporting often- while Tails was dressed in a much more sophisticated leather jacket with a scarf. She smiled, clocked out, and took of her apron and name tag, sliding on all her layers before meeting up with the boys.

She approached them and shrugged her hat on. "Well, Charmy, we'll be off. Say hello to Espio and Vector for me, will you? I'm sorry you had to come all the way out here for nothing…"

Charmy looked rather pissed, but he shrugged and agreed, nodding only towards Cream before departing. Cream smiled once he was out of sight and tugged Tails along out of the shop, the snow outside falling gently.

Tails scratched his head. "He sure didn't seem too happy."

Cream sighed. "I don't know why," she lied, having a feeling that she did. "But he did. Thanks for coming to my rescue," she laughed.

Tails chuckled. "Sure, anytime," Cream looked towards him and he sighed, his breath obvious in the cold air. "Well, if that's all you need I'll head home now-"

"Wait," Cream stopped him, confused. "Who said anything about going home? You came for an evening out with me, so you're having an evening out with me!"

Tails looked at her and smiled slowly before nodding and falling in step with her. They made up their plan, and they headed off to the mini-golf place before they went off to dinner. Cream sent a quick text to her mom telling her where she was going to be, and the same with Amy.

Amy's response: "_Have fun! You two are going to be married before I know it…_"

Cream couldn't help but blush and smile fondly. She looked up and found Tails, who was strategically figuring out how to make a hole in one.

On the first hole.

She laughed in spite of herself and he turned towards her to question her, a curious and adorably cute expression on his face. Cream shook her head and let him go back to analyzing, all the while thinking how much more fun she was going to have with Tails than she would've with Charmy.

* * *

**A/N:** Wow this chapter is freaking _long…_ I almost didn't add that last part but hey… we need Tails/Cream, yeah? Anyways, the usual: review, alert, and favorite please(: Have a wonderful New Year!


	7. Seven Swans a Swimming

**A/N: **My New Years was completely uneventful :/ I mean, I watched the ball drop, toasted my mom to a glass of coke, and then went back to playing Sonic Unleashed. FAIL RIGHT THERE. Oh, and um, obviously this deadline is just not going to work xD So the story ends whenever I want the story to end! Just kidding. Since school started again yesterday, I haven't had all day to write, so they're coming A LOT slower. Anyways, look for the ending in the next week or so. Thanks for sticking to this story everyone!

* * *

_**On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me-  
**__Seven swans-a-swimming-  
__Six geese-a-laying-  
__Five golden rings-  
__Four calling birds-  
__Three French hens-  
__Two turtle doves-  
__And a partridge in a pear tree._

_December 31st_

* * *

Cream woke up, ate breakfast, and got dressed, all while smiling.

She had a _fantastic_ time the night before- she wasn't quite expecting fun of that caliber- and by time she had come home she'd been glowing with happiness and was ready to pass out. Her mom had simply smiled at her when she opened the door, and when asked if she had a good time, Cream nodded and chirped "Of course!"

After downing her bowl of healthy cereal, she went out shopping with her mom and had a small lunch. The two rabbits returned home and went right back to getting ready again- Vanilla was cooking food for the New Year's Eve party, while Cream got ready for her shift at the Chao store. It was New Year's Eve, so the store closed at eight, but that meant that she had to close and she'd be the last one to arrive at the party. Even then, that didn't include the time it'd take for her to fly home, change, do her hair and makeup, and fly all the way over to the Chaotix's new headquarters.

She frowned as she tugged on her other uniform- a yellow tye-dye shirt with a picture of a Chao on it. Throwing on some khakis and tying her hair up, she exited her room, said 'see you later' to her mom, and then walked to work, her good mood ruined. She left half an hour early just so she could walk; it felt really good out and there was actual sunshine despite the cold weather.

And then she ran into the Chaotix. Literally.

"Cream, I'm sorry!"

"Ouch…" she muttered after her butt hit pavement. She looked up and saw Charmy leaning down over her, looking worried, Vector yelling at the bee, and Espio rolling his eyes, probably thinking that he had ridiculous teammates.

Wincing, she took Charmy's offer of his hand. He was still apologizing, but she waved him away. She saw a bright green object in her peripheral vision, and she frowned, marching over to it. Vector was, to say the least, quite surprised.

"Uh, kiddo, just so you know, that was Charmy that ran into you, not me-"

"Listen, buddy," Cream started. "No more of this 'mixing it up' stuff, okay? I've had to deal with more problems than you can imagine because of that!" She yelled in his face, and she wanted to face-palm whenhis face became smug.

"Oh, you enjoyed that didn't you?" he grinned. "Can't say that I'll stop it, but glad to know that certain _reactions_ occur."

"Vector!" she whined. "Do you know that people thought it was a date?"

"Date?" Charmy echoed behind her. "You went on a date?"

"No!" she turned around to face Charmy, whose face had a slightly confused look. "I did not go on a date!"

"It sure did look like one," Vector said in a sing-song voice. If she was someone else, she would've punched him. Instead she turned around and glared at him before marching back up to him and putting her finger in his face.

"Look," she started. "If something like that happens again, then I'm setting Amy on you. Do you want a hormonal pregnant lady after you?"

Vector's face instantly turned quite frightened. "Err.."

Cream smiled, pleased. "Good. Well, see you guys later tonight! I gotta get to work!" And with that, she walked off, leaving behind the three detectives.

She heard Espio's voice even as she walked away (bunny ears, she figured). "What did you do that made her so upset?"

"…Nothing. Let's head back."

She grinned.

* * *

Nothing ruined her day like old ladies who didn't know how to use a credit card.

"Now what do I do?"

Cream managed to smile politely, though she wanted to scream at the lady. "You put in your four-digit pin code on the number pad."

"Pin code? What is that?"

She almost face palmed. She searched for an answer but the old lady beat her to it. "Oh, you mean 2004?"

Cream blinked. "Err, if that's what you think it is… Just put it in there."

Fortunately, that was correct, and with showing the lady how to hold the pen and telling her to sign she finished her last customer of the day. After she gathered all her things, she waved goodbye to her boss, and flipped the closed sign to the front and locked the door behind her.

Then, she flew like a madwoman back to her house.

She arrived at the quaint cottage, the windows dark. Her mother had obviously left, just like she anticipated. She reached in her purse for her keys, and found that they were not there. Well, damn. She checked under the mat for the spare key, and then remembered that her mother had removed it because one of her friends had told her a story about a guy breaking into her house with the key under the mat.

Cream scowled. Luckily, they had a window for this!

She flew up to a window on the opposite side of the house, checking to see if it was the right room. It was her mother's bedroom, so she flew a window over and found her closet window, the one they kept unlocked for emergencies. She smiled and slid open the small pane, climbing through with a grunt as she fell to the floor.

Thank goodness no one was there to see _that_. Then she remembered she was late. Super late.

She dashed out of her mom's closet, tugging her shirt off as she ran. She eventually made her way into a nice outfit, and she made sure it matched before getting ready to do her makeup and hair.

And then she heard the thunder.

Groaning, she muttered incoherent words into her hands. With a very deep frown, she stomped into the bathroom and continued on with her plan, at a much slower pace. She tried to think optimistically of how she was going to get there, but she _really_ didn't know and flying wasn't an option considering how heavy the rain was.

_Damn_.

Cream removed the curling iron from her hair, applied her last bit of mascara, and finished everything up, heading back into her room to find her flats. She slid them on, and glancing out the window, she frowned at the rain sliding down her windowpane.

She almost missed the bright light in the sky.

She looked again, squinting her eyes, before she noticed that it was an oh-so-familiar plane. With a bright smile, she switched off her lights and ran downstairs to the front door. She opened the door and stepped out onto her covered porch, watching the plane land in the clearing that was her front yard. Her smile was still evident on her face, and she watched as her favorite fox climbed out of the cockpit before rushing over to her, an umbrella in his hand.

He seemed sort of breathless. "Thought you could use a ride."

With a small smile she ushered him inside, and he shed his layers gleefully, obviously enjoying the heat. He turned around to face her but was glomped quite suddenly. Cream nuzzled her face into his soft chest hair, not really noticing what she was doing. "Ooh, thank you so much Tails! You're a life saver~!" she cooed.

The bunny smiled, and a blush crept up on her face when she realized she was strangling Tails, almost pulling an Amy. But it felt so _good_ so there was no way that she was stopping. She felt the fox's hand come up to her waist, and she knew that he was debating whether to push her away or let her hug him.

"Cream…" he trailed off, staring at the girl hugging him. She backed off then, a blush adorning her pretty face. She turned her face up at him and smiled, before stepping around him to layer on her coat, scarf, and hat.

With a little hum, she stepped out on to the porch, locking the door behind her when Tails exited. He held the umbrella up over their heads, and they trudged through the soggy ground to get to the plane.

Neither realized how close they had to stand to fit under the umbrella.

* * *

The Chaotix's new headquarters was surprisingly… _clean_.

Cream had been to their old headquarters multiple times, and whenever she went she always felt a little disgusted at the terrible mess that was always present. It boggled her how her mother- the Queen Clean Freak herself- could walk right on in without looking and pretend it's not there.

As her and Tails walked through the surprisingly solid wood door, she silently marveled at the cleanliness. There was an open floor plan- or as open as far as she could tell… there were a lot of people in the room-hardwood floors (they _needed_ those), actual furniture, and a cute little desk that she supposed would serve to talking to potential clients if they ever came in.

…How did the Chaotix pick this place?

While Tails hung up the umbrella and took off his coat, Cream slowly did the same, her scarf barely off before Tails was done. She finished and looked around the dimly lit room, listening to the noises of the party.

"Yo, Tails!" The duo looked up to find a blue hedgehog walking towards them, holding a beer in his left hand while having his other raised in the air as a greeting. "It's about time you got here!"

"Hey, Sonic," Cream smiled, noticing his very pregnant wife come trudging through the doorway. She excused herself and weaved through a few people she knew before making her way to her best friend. Amy looked up and nodded at the bunny before taking a gulp of her water.

"Ugh, the baby is being extra bitchy today," Amy said. Cream thought that despite her bulging stomach and grouchy attitude, she looked rather stunning.

The bunny smiled. "Not much longer though. Anyways, guess _what_!"

She knew how Amy reacted around 'guess what's. The hedgehog's eyes sparkled and she smiled slightly. "What?"

"Well," Cream began. "I ran into the Chaotix today on my way to work."

Amy nodded. "Okay, what else?"

"And Charmy knocked me over, so I stood up and saw Vector, then I remembered how he sent Charmy out for me… so I kindasorta_maybe_ told him that I'd set a very hormonal and pregnant you on him if he didn't stop?" she finished her story and ended up asking a question, and Amy barked out a laugh.

"Ha, damn straight. I got your back."

Cream grinned and saw her mother, so she made her way over to the grown bunny, repeating the story for her. She merely raised a brow, and then sighed at her daughter's antics. Satisfied, Cream turned her attention to the party, and joined in with her friends to celebrate the end of the year.

* * *

A little hyped up from all the soda she'd been drinking, Cream turned her attention over to the clock mounted on the way, the digital display reading: _11:47._ With a grin, she turned to her companion, Rouge, and pointed at the clock.

"Hey~!" she sung. "It's almost midnight!"

Rouge grinned and yelled what Cream said to Knuckles, who screamed at Sonic, who whispered to Amy and then yelled at Tails, who told Shadow and Espio- the latter telling Vector, who stood up on a table and got everyone's attention.

"It's almost midnight, everyone! Head out back and we'll set off some fireworks!"

With a few whoops of excitement, the crowd dissipated outside, the chilly night air shocking some people out of their buzz. Cream finished buttoning up her jacket, looking up at the night sky. She heard Sonic exclaim that he had the count for the New Year, and Cream smiled. Her mother was off standing by Vector, the latter looking humble. Sonic had his right arm out- the one with his watch- while his other arm wrapped around his round wife. Amy nuzzled into his shoulder. Espio and Charmy were standing by Knuckles and Rouge, who were uncharacteristically quiet. Blaze and Silver, who were still in the works of getting to know each other, stood by Shadow. The silver hedgehog tried his hardest to get Shadow to enjoy himself, but he refused to even crack a smile.

Cream smiled at all her friends who were gathered there at that moment, all with who they loved and cared for the most, having fun (she knew Shadow was; his dark and mysterious persona just didn't let him show it). It was then she realized that she was quite alone, and a small frown placed itself on her features in the dark of the night.

"Why are you frowning?"

The rabbit's head snapped up at the words. She found Tails standing behind her, looking at her with worry. His brows were creased and his eyes were piercing, so she turned away from his intense stare, shaking her head. "It's nothing, Tails."

"You looked sad," he urged. "It had to be something."

Even though she was touched by his concern, she brushed it off, ending it with her words. "It was nothing," she smiled, mostly over her moment of sadness. She turned back to the sky. "Just thought of something."

"Five more minutes!" Sonic yelled, and Charmy, Vector, a drunk Silver, and Rouge all whooped. Cream faintly smiled, and Tails stepped up beside her.

"Did you have a good year?" he asked, looking at her.

She glanced at him before smiling. "Yes, of course. Did you?"

The fox nodded, and Cream rocked on her feet, having nothing else to say. The countdown kept ticking down, and eventually Vector was scrambling to set up the fireworks while Sonic counted down the time until the New Year.

"One minute, Vector! Come on, get it together! Go, go, go!" Charmy cheered as Vector tried to set up their fireworks. He shooed Charmy off and had all the entertainment perfectly ready to go as Sonic began to count down.

"Forty!" he shouted. "Forty seconds left!"

Silver called attention to himself. "Jus' wanna say… I hope everyone -hic- had a good year, a-and that Amy has a healthy little hedgie baby…" he trailed off to regain himself for a moment, and Cream glanced at her best friend. Amy was smiling, a hand on her stomach, while Sonic was looking at her belly quite lovingly.

She sighed. She really wanted to have a relationship like that.

Well… minus the baby. For a while.

"You're frowning again," Tails spoke up. "Now you have to tell me what's bothering you."

Cream sighed. "Maybe, as a resolution or something…" she started, trying to form the words to make it not sound too selfish or weird. She felt slightly conscious of telling Tails this, and she really hope that it wouldn't do something ridiculous, like scare him off or something. "I'd like to have somebody that loves me like Sonic loves Amy."

"Ehh?" Tails' face became sort of shocked, Cream noticed whenever she looked at him. She blushed, though you couldn't tell, and looked away.

Silver continued on for a moment, before Sonic took over. "Fifteen seconds! Count down, Vector?"

The crocodile grinned and began the countdown, the voices joining in once they had their rhythm. She noticed Tails not saying anything, and she opened her mouth to count too but he interrupted her.

"It won't be hard to find someone like that for you," he said strongly, not meeting her gaze. "With how you are… there'll be somebody."

Cream's eyes widened at his words, and the fox began counting along. She smiled to herself, and joined the others as they finished counting.

"Three, two, one!" Everyone cheered, even Cream and Tails, and they watched in wonder as Vector lit the fireworks and the most magnificent display of firecrackers that she had seen in a while lit up the night sky. She smiled in childish glee in spite of herself, her head turned up towards the sky.

"Cream," the two-tailed boy said from her left, and she turned her head to look at him. The fireworks were lighting up his face, and his small smile had her heart doing flips. "Happy New Year."

Cream smiled. "You too, Tails."

They watched the fireworks for a few seconds more before she spoke. "Tails?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks," she said, lightly touching his hand with hers, loving the way his fur felt against hers. "Thanks a lot."

Tails did nothing but smile and take her hand in his, and their heads turned up to the sky once more. They watched the fireworks light up the sky, and barely a minute into New Years, she had known that this year was going to be fantastic.

* * *

**A/N: **Since I'm not an evil authoress, I left you some goooodness at the end so you will anticipate the next chapter! …And now that I think about it, that's not really that good… Anyways, thanks for reading, please review?

Also! If you don't mind, do you think it's a:

a) good

or b) bad

idea to change my username. If you will, could you explain? I need convincing, and I really want to change my username but I don't want to confuse my readers. Your input would be greatly appreciated!


	8. Eight Maids a Milking

**A/N: **Well yesterday was the last day for this story (apparently) and I'm at chapter eight, haha. But no worries! There's no way this story is ending! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, and hopefully this one will be fluff worthy~!

* * *

_**On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me-  
**__Eight maids-a-milking-  
__Seven swans-a-swimming-  
__Six geese-a-laying-  
__Five golden rings-  
__Four calling birds-  
__Three French hens-  
__Two turtle doves-  
__And a partridge in a pear tree._

_January 1__st_

_

* * *

_

_Tails did nothing but smile and take her hand in his, and their heads turned up to the sky once more. They watched the fireworks light up the sky, and barely a minute into New Years, she had known that this year was going to be fantastic._

The rabbit and the fox watched as the fireworks faded away in the night sky, and smiled serenely. The other members of their party all cheered and toasted, then headed back inside to party away. Tails tugged her hand to lead her back inside, but she resisted and shook her head. He quirked his brow, and she answered his silently by letting go of his hand and sitting down on the ground.

"I'm staying out here… You can if you like."

The fox simply stood there, and she hoped that he understood that she _really_ wanted him to lay out under the moonlight with her. She felt like having companionship, and the fox's was the best that she had ever had. Apparently he did understand, because he sat down beside her, one leg folded out to his chest while the other stretched out in front of him.

They stayed in silence for a while, before Tails spoke. "Cream…"

She cocked her head towards him. "Yeah, Tails?"

He hesitated before speaking, and she knew instantly that this was super important and that he was being serious. Maybe it was the expression on his face, or maybe it was her skill at guessing people's motives. She didn't know, but she gave him her full attention, her honey brown orbs focusing on his concentrated face.

"What are we?"

Confused, she frowned a little and furrowed her brows. "Um, what do you mean?"

He made a gesture with his hand. "You know… _us_. Together. Are we friends or… I don't…" he sighed. "I need you to tell me."

She was lost for words.

She wanted to say, that she thought of him highly, that she respected him and that he was one of her greatest role models. She thought he was fantastically patient, so loving and compassionate. She wanted to say that he was a genius and she was always amazed at his knowledge of gadgets and basically everything else. She loved how in the zone he looked whenever he finished an invention or when he was flying his plane. She thought that he was so brave and strong, even though he discouraged himself. She wanted to tell him that he invaded her mind every second of the day and that even the briefest mention of him made her smile.

She wanted to tell him all that, but she didn't know how to say it.

"Tails," she started, struggling with her words. "I don't know how to say this but…"

She looked at him then, and his ears drooped, his eyes became sad, and he looked towards the ground. She flipped out, and jerked up on her knees, putting her hands on his shoulders to get his attention. His head snapped up towards her, confusion, hope, and hurt all scrambled onto his face.

"That is _not_ what I meant," she confirmed firmly.

His brows furrowed. "Wait, so you're saying…"

She bit her lip, telling herself that she had to say something. "You… you, Tails, I just haven't…"

"Cream," he said, his face very intense and serious. "Tell me."

She took her hands off his shoulders, and she burst. "I don't know how to tell you, Tails! I mean there's so many things I want to say but I can't figure out how to tell you!" She started blabbering. "I mean you're fantastic and you're so handsome and-"

Cream started blurting out all of her inner thoughts without noticing. At first his reaction was completely priceless, then he blushed, and then he smiled as she continued making wild gestures, her face telling all.

"-and you're just _so_ smart and I know you don't think it sometimes but you are so brave like Sonic and-"

She kept talking and Tails thought that maybe he didn't need to know everything she was thinking… she was going to be _so _embarrassed in a moment.

"Cream."

"-and your tails are so soft-"

"Cream…"

"-and you're very sweet-"

"Cream!" he said, a little exasperated.

"-and I think about you _all_ the time." She stopped with a huff. "What?"

With a nervous chuckle, he scratched his head. "Err, well, you see…"

Cream cocked her head and muttered her confusion, and she actually thought and her eyes widened, and a blush appearing on her face. She covered her mouth with a gasp, then lightly smacked Tails, though he winced. "You should've _stopped_ me!"

He laughed then, and she giggled (mostly in embarrassment). She noticed that in her rant she had moved to sitting on her knees beside him so that she was facing him, her thigh touching his. He was smiling, and she poked his stomach.

"Hey, now," she got his attention (though she didn't know that she _always_ had his attention). "Since I told you all that, you have to do the same for me."

He immediately sobered. "Err, well…"

She frowned, and she decided that she'd plead. "Please~?"

Tails sighed. "Well, I-I guess I'd have to say the same thing, really," he said quietly.

She smiled. "You have to go into detail with that one," she said quietly.

"Really?" he asked, though he knew it was useless. His nervous stammering appeared in his voice. "W-Well, you're sweet and nice… a-and you're…" he hesitated before taking a breath. "…really beautiful, and-"

He continued telling Cream his thoughts, and even though it wasn't nearly as revealing as her own confession, she smiled nonetheless. He said a little bit more, and her heart was beating so hard from happiness that she figured he had to be hearing it.

After he finished, they sat in an awkward silence, and Cream yawned in the midst of it all. "Tired?" he asked. She nodded in response. "I'll take you home if you want."

Cream shrugged. "I guess. I don't know. I doubt I'll do anything else here."

Tails nodded and stood up, pulling the rabbit along with him. They entered the headquarters once more and weaved their way through the crowds- Tails went to go thanks the hosts while Cream talked to her mother.

"Mom," she said, approached the elder rabbit. Vanilla looked up and smiled a little. "Happy New Year, baby."

Cream smiled. "You too, Mom. Anyways, Tails is gonna fly me home-"

"I saw you outside with him," she interrupted, and Cream knew that this was her protective and nagging side coming out. 'Motherly,' is what Vanilla called it. "Everything… go alright?" That was her mom's way of asking if anything happened.

"Nothing happened," Cream said bluntly. "We just… confessed some things."

"Confessed?"

Cream nodded. "Yes. Anyways, Tails is flying me home. I'll probably be asleep whenever you come back, okay?"

Vanilla slowly agreed, but she looked skeptical. "Okay, well… head to bed soon, alright? You've got a shift at the store tomorrow bright and early, and I don't want you to be tired."

"Sure, mom," she said walking away. "Have fun!"

She joined Tails by the door, who was waiting silently. They gathered their belongings and left, climbing in the plane quickly to avoid the cold weather.

"Cream!"

She turned around to find the person who was calling her, and she saw Charmy standing in doorway, confusion laced on his features. "Where you going?"

Cream bit her lip. She felt like she had just gotten caught for doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing, although she knew that she was perfectly fine. She supposed it was just Charmy. "I'm… going home."

"Oh, okay," He looked disappointed. "I'll… just see you sometime, okay?"

Cream nodded, and the bee turned around and he disappeared from her view. She still kept on standing, looking where he just was, before sighing and sitting down in her seat, allowing Tails to close the cockpit. They were silent as she started up the plane, and it was after he started flying whenever he spoke.

"It's seems like he likes you," was all he said.

Cream bowed her head, and she mumbled, "Yeah, I know."

He didn't say anything, and she felt kind of awkward then. She stared out the window all the way home, and when Tails landed, he only opened the cockpit for her to get out. She climbed over the side of the plane and stood on the little step, eye level with Tails in the driver seat. He looked at her and smiled, and she thanked him for the ride.

"Sure, Cream," he welcomed her. Cream bit her lip, indecisive… and then she made up her mind.

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his muzzle- not his lips, his muzzle- and hopped off the steps. She ran towards her door and waved without looking. As she pulled out her keys and unlocked her door, she turned back around in his direction.

He was looking at her, and through the darkness she knew his mouth was open. She chuckled to herself and pushed her door open, closing it behind her. She then sunk to the floor with her back pressed against the wooden barrier, and a blush appeared on her face.

She had said so much tonight, and she simply didn't know what to think of it.

* * *

Nine o'clock in the morning, and she was heading off to work.

She was really tired, but she had gotten a good amount of sleep compared to what she was planning on having. Cream trudged towards the Chao store, not looking forward to her six hour shift.

And after her six hour shift, she opened her front door at three, planning on heading upstairs and taking a nap. She sat down and ate first, and as she swallowed a bite of her sandwich, her phone rang.

She didn't even check the caller ID before answering. "Hello?"

"Cream! Tell me what happened this morning!"

She sighed. There was Amy, not even greeting her. "With Tails?" she clarified, sounding bland.

"Yes, yes, yes!" She was too excited, Cream noted. "What happened?"

Cream explained it all, everything from her outburst to the thing he said in the plane. Amy was unusually silent through it all, and at the end of her long, long tale, she made an understanding noise. "Ahh, young love."

"Love?" Cream laughed, sort of nervously. "Not… yet."

Amy sighed. "Poor Charmy, but I mean at least Tails likes you. Now, we are waiting for him to ask you out! Yes, and then you will be on the right track to _marriage_!"

Amy kept blabbering on, and Cream tuned her out and thought about the marriage part. Sure, she could picture herself in a wedding dress with all her friends, but it really made her heart do something funny whenever she thought of Tails waiting for her. She immediately banished the thought from her head, only to find Amy calling her name.

"Cream? Hellooooo?"

"Sorry," Cream said. "Spaced out."

Amy chuckled. "Sure. Anyways, I know you just got off a shift, so sleep or something. Talk to you later?"

Cream smiled. "Sure, of course. We'll have to do lunch tomorrow or something."

"Sounds good! Sleep tight!"

Cream gave her thanks and hung up, finishing her food. She trudged up the stairs and stripped out of her uniform before throwing on comfy pajamas and flopping into bed. She curled up under her blankets, and her last thought before she drifted off was that Tails looked rather dashing in a tuxedo.

* * *

**A/N:** Ahh, kind of short, but it was fluffy and good all the same. Review, please? Thanks to all my reviewers for leaving lovely things about this story! I hope you tell your franns about it, haha(: That, and keep up the good reviews! Thank you my lovelies!


	9. Nine Ladies Dancing

A/N: ACTION. ACTION IS HAPPENING. ARE YOU WATCHING OUT? YOU SHOULD BE.

* * *

_**On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me-  
**__Nine ladies dancing-  
__Eight maids-a-milking-  
__Seven swans-a-swimming-  
__Six geese-a-laying-  
__Five golden rings-  
__Four calling birds-  
__Three French hens-  
__Two turtle doves-  
__And a partridge in a pear tree._

_January 2__nd_

* * *

She was nice and cozy in her warm bed at four o'clock whenever her cell phone rang. Normally, she would've ignored it, but it was four and it woke her up after the third time it called.

"What?" she growled as she pressed the receive button.

"Cream!" It was Tails. "Cream, you have to get dressed! Wake your mom up and be outside in five minutes!"

"What?" Cream was wide awake. "Tails, what happened?"

"It's Amy!" He shouted, and she heard the commotion in the back. "She's having her baby!"

Cream's mouth opened, she dropped her phone, and she ran down the hall to her mom's room. She threw open the door and saw her mother snuggled under her covers. She dashed over and shook her violently, causing her to jump up in bed.

"Wha? Wha, Cream, wha happened?" she asked, rubbing her eyes while slurring.

"Mom, get ready! Amy's in labor, and Tails is-"

"WHAT?"

Cream nodded. "Yes, yes, yes. Now get up, get dressed, do something with your bed hair, and wait for Tails to get here!" Cream dashed off and did the same, and by the time she heard the knock at her door, she had just thrown her hair up in a ponytail, jeans and a long-sleeved shirt on instead of pajamas.

She bolted down the stairs and grabbed her phone, finding a really frantic looking Tails at the door, ushering her mom out the door. She rushed out after her mother and locked the door behind Tails, climbing in beside her mom in the four-seated plane that Tails had taken that time. She found an unexpected person inside.

"Shadow?" the young rabbit asked.

Said hedgehog looked up and gave her a brief nod, and Cream knew that's the best she'd get for a while. She smiled and climbed in the third seat back- in front of Shadow, behind her mom. Tails hopped in the pilot's seat and closed the cockpit before quickly taking off. Her mother took over then.

"Tails, how long has Amy been in labor?"

"Not long at all," the fox answered. "Sonic ran her to the hospital. She asked for everyone to be there, so Knuckles and I have been out rounding everyone up."

Vanilla nodded, and Cream turned around in her seat to face the ebony hedgehog. He looked up, sensing her gaze, and the rabbit smiled. "Did Tails pick you up?"

He nodded. "He called me, and I met him at his workshop. He told me to come along."

"Oh," the bunny nodded. "Well, we're all glad you came."

His response was one of those Shadow-smiles: the corner of his mouth raises on slightly, but Cream was perceptive enough to spot that. She smiled in response and returned to her seat to listen to her mom's incessant questions, hoping that her best friend was okay.

* * *

The hospital waiting room was chaos.

When the four of them had gotten to the hospital they freaking _ran_ to the correct floor. Upon the elevator door opening, they saw Amy being wheeled off, and Sonic following close behind, all their friends curiously peering around the corner.

"_Like fucking hell I don't want you in here!_" Amy screamed. "_Look what you did to me you son of a bitch_!"

Sonic looked mildly insulted, but then Amy cursed from another contraction and then changed her mind. "_Get your blue ass in here and watch me pull a baby out of my vagina_!"

The nurse, a brown cat, only smiled patiently. She addressed Sonic. "Don't worry, hun. They all do this. Just follow us and put on a suit at the end of the hall."

They wheeled Amy off, who was muttering obscenities, and Sonic turned around to his friends real quick. He looked panicked, and Cream saw the lack of sleep in his eyes, along with this excitement, anticipation, and worry of giving birth. He said his thanks and saw Shadow and Tails, and grinned half-heartedly at them before running down the hall after his pink screaming wife.

Then, the hospital waiting room was quiet.

Cream was worried- _really_ worried- and she watched in amazement as Vanilla simply sat down in a chair without even making a face. Everyone looked at her, because everyone was still _standing_ because Amy Rose was hardly ever that vulgar, and Vanilla sighed. "You know, child labor lasts about ten (1) hours on average. You've got time. Why don't you sit down and catch some sleep?"

At this, everyone sat down: Knuckles plopped down on a very uncomfortable looking chair, the Chaotix did the same (Cream thought in the back of her head that it'd be awkward with Charmy there), then Tails and Shadow did the same. Only Cream and Rouge remained standing, and they were given questioning glances.

"Don't look at me like that," Rouge said, her tiredness being expressed with a deep frown. "One of my best friends just went screaming into another room and a freaking_ baby_ is coming out of her va-jay-jay," she said, and the looks on Vector and Charmy's faces were priceless. "Me an' Creamy here have a _right_ to be worried."

Cream nodded slowly, and her and the bat reluctantly sat down in two of the remaining chairs- Rouge by Knuckles, who had probably already fallen asleep, and Cream in between Tails and Charmy. She told herself that life was just trying to screw with her as she sat down and a fox's and a bee's gazes both snapped towards her.

She needed to find Charmy a girlfriend.

* * *

She should've brought her diary or a book or _something_. She had read all the stupid boring magazines that were on the table beside Tails, and then the ones by Rouge, and then the ones by Shadow. Then she read the posters on the wall. She looked at the clock.

It'd only been an hour.

She frowned, and the elevator dinged open. She wondered briefly if it was something similar to their case, but instead a purple cat and silver hedgehog dragged themselves in, rubbing their eyes as they turned to face the group.

"Blaze, Silver!" Cream greeted, seeing as how Vector, Knuckles, Rouge, and Charmy were asleep. The others grunted tiredly, and Silver and Blaze did the same. They took two seats by Shadow, and Blaze spoke up.

"How is she?"

Cream sighed. "Dunno. Her and Sonic have been in there for the past hour or so. I guess they're still dealing with the dilation."

"Dilation?" Silver echoed in confusion, and Blaze shook her head. "I am sure that it will go well," the cat responded.

Cream nodded, and returned to boredom. She had played with her phone for like twenty minutes and was ridiculously unhappy, so she resorted to saying, 'screw it,' and trying to fall asleep in the chair. Fall asleep she did, but only a few noticed that it was Tails' shoulder that her head landed on.

* * *

"Guys!"

Cream shot up, mumbling incoherent words about waffles, and then searched to find the source of the noise. She found Sonic, smiling sort of, wearing a blue suit and a mask. Only a few people had woken up, and everyone who was awake paid attention. "What's up, Sonic?" Tails asked.

"Well," he started. "The contractions are getting closer together, so that means she's about to start pushing soon."

Cream nodded and looked at the clock, and she was surprised to see that it was eight-thirty. She had slept for three and a half hours in a _hospital_. How surprising. She smiled encouragingly at Sonic and told him to hang in there, and then the blue hedgehog dashed away.

Sleep was useless now, so she sat up and stretched her tired and tense limbs. She scanned the room: Espio, Vector, and her mothere weren't there, so they were probably down at the cafeteria; Charmy was waking up; Silver and Blaze were talking quietly; Knuckles and Rouge were discussing something in a magazine; and Shadow was simply sitting in the chair, his eyes closed, though she knew he wasn't sleeping.

She looked towards her two-tailed companion, who was reading a magazine, and he looked up at her gaze. Cocking a brow, he opened his mouth to ask a question but the rumbling of his stomach silenced him. Cream giggled softly, and then stood up, popping her back and offering her hand to Tails. "Cafeteria?" she asked, and he nodded. Tails put down his magazine and pulled himself up, he too relaxing his muscles on the short walk to the elevator.

"Cream, wait…" she heard Charmy mumble, and she turned to find him shuffling over. He really wasn't a morning person or anything, was he? He continued speaking. "I have no idea where this 'cafeteria' is but I'm hungry and Espio and Vector are there so take me _please_?"

Cream blinked. "Err, sure."

The trio entered the elevator, and the slight nervousness she felt at being so close to an _awake_ Charmy and Tails at the same time was drowned out by the terrible elevator music. Eventually, the floor dinged at the cafeteria, and they made their way into the room with many tables, bunches of people, and a bright green crocodile.

Really. You could see him on the other side of the room.

They crossed the distance and saw Vector and Vanilla sitting beside each other, with Espio and a cup of coffee on the other side. They raised their heads at the trio's approach, and then greeted each other quietly. Cream told them the news. "Sonic said that her contractions were coming faster, so she'll be ready to push soon."

"Contractions?" Charmy asked. Cream thought that he and Silver would made great friends.

Vanilla ignored him. "That's good. Quick for a firstborn. No complications, yes?"

"Not that we know of," Tails responded. "He didn't say anything when he came out."

The elder bunny nodded, and Charmy plopped down beside Espio, already halfway back asleep before he hit the table. Cream sighed and tugged Tails towards the line, and they ordered some terrible-looking breakfast and ate it a few tables away from the rest of them.

"So," he said, taking a bite of eggs. "How do you feel now that it's… here?"

"What, the baby?" she clarified. Tails nodded, and she put down her fork to come up with a way to put it. "Well, I guess it's just anticipation now."

"Anticipation?" he said, skeptically cocking his brow. "Never thought of it like that."

Cream frowned. "Well, aren't you excited?"

"I mean, I guess," the fox said. "But the baby will change everything. I won't see Sonic a lot anymore because he'll be too irritated and busy with the baby, I'll have to _babysit, _and-"

"You're afraid of change, aren't you?" Cream interjected, smiling quietly as she drank a sip of coffee (which she wasn't a big fan of).

Tails gave her a look, and she laughed. "Not afraid, more like… skeptical."

"I don't think that there's a difference."

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, Cream."

She giggled. "Just kidding. Anyways, but don't you think that it'll be awesome being an uncle? The baby will adore you, and you'll see just enough of the baby to want one, but not enough to discourage you like the diaper changing, and then-"

"I think this is _your_ interpretation of it." They did a lot of interrupting.

"Well, won't you feel like that?"

He shrugged, and she sighed. "Well, you'll come to your senses."

"My senses," he snorted. Cream glared at him half-heartedly and they finished their breakfast. They followed the other four back up the elevator, cramming in with some male nurses (some _delicious_ looking male nurses), and then once they arrived on the appropriate floor, they automatically heard a faint noise.

The door opened, and they noticed the noise was screaming. Cream jumped to conclusions and shot out of the elevator, and her unasked question was shot down by Blaze. "This is the pregnancy ward, you know. There's dozens of other women here."

Cream still was a little hyped up. "But, what if…"

Blaze shook her head. "I do not think it is Amy."

Cream was good friends with Blaze, and even though she trusted the purple cat, she still wasn't fully convinced. She sat in between Blaze and a random bear, thinking about how real this situation had become.

* * *

The screaming had become just a buzz to her. She felt awkward beside the bear, who smelled really bad and kept mumbling, so she resorted to talking to Blaze, asking her how'd she'd been, the like.

And then, another scream came. A familiar one.

"Amy!" Knuckles shouted, and the whole group started talking at once. Cream was smiling at Blaze, whose corner of her mouth was raised in a somewhat smile. Shadow was the same as the purple cat, and Silver, Knuckles, Tails, Rouge, Vector, and Charmy all had the same reaction: panic.

Poor Espio was just in the middle of it all.

Vanilla, across the room, was only smiling at the chaos. Cream was amazed at how her mother was calm in this situation. She figured that if her mom had a profession, it'd be a nurse or a midwife. It just fit her.

Eventually, over time, the screaming stopped, and they all knew what happened. Everyone became silent, and the next fifteen minutes passed ridiculously slowly for them. Eventually, they saw their favorite blue hedgehog turn the corner with a giant grin on his face. Some of them stood up, and Sonic laughed slightly before saying:

"I've got a baby girl."

Everyone cheered.

* * *

Clarisse Amelia the Hedgehog was born January 2nd at nine thirty-four a.m., born three pounds, seven ounces (2). She was born a lovely purple color, with bright green eyes just like her parents. Eventually, Cream got to see her through a glass window, but she didn't need to see her in person to know that she was the most precious thing she had ever seen.

Cream pressed her hand to the window, watching the little thing rest in a bed of pink. She smiled, truly happy for her surrogate sister and brother. She knew that little Clarisse would be a joy in their life.

Tails came up beside her. "She's pretty, isn't she?"

Cream nodded. "Beautiful."

She looked at him then, and he was staring at the baby with a smile on his face. The lighting, somehow, made his jaw look defined, and the gentle look in his eyes that radiated adoration for his niece. He felt her gaze and turned slightly, giving her a smile that said that she was right. They turned their faces back towards the glass.

Standing beside Tails, looking at the baby, Cream first felt the blooming feeling of being in love.

* * *

(1) The average length of firstborn labor for humans is sixteen hours. Since these are hedgehogs and their proportions are significantly lesser than humans, I decided that I'd make the amount of time less.

(2) Well, you might go, 'Woah, that's not even possible,' but listen: Sonic, a fully grown hedgehog, is around 80 pounds. My guess would be that the average male is like 150 or something, and I know that most babies are born like seven pounds, so I just made it proportional.

PLEASE READ: I have no idea what it's like to have a baby, or what to do or what it's like in the waiting room. Please be understanding. I'm not having a baby at my age, haha, no.

A/N: DEAR LORD THIS TOOK ME LIKE THREE DAYS. Sorry. It was difficult to write. Please review and tell me what you thought; I need to know, haha.


	10. Ten Lords a Leaping

A/N: I HAVE SNOW and I'm so happy~! Made me romantic-y feeling and I wanted to write something about it but this chapter isn't really romantic-y… Haha. Anyways, enjoy~!

* * *

_**On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me-  
**__Ten lords-a-leaping-  
__Nine ladies dancing-  
__Eight maids-a-milking-  
__Seven swans-a-swimming-  
__Six geese-a-laying-  
__Five golden rings-  
__Four calling birds-  
__Three French hens-  
__Two turtle doves-  
__And a partridge in a pear tree._

_January 3__rd__._

* * *

Cream glanced at the clock: four in the morning. Only twenty-four hours ago had she been woken up by her phone because her best friend in the entire world was having her baby. This fact had kept Cream up.

Clarisse was- well, to be blunt- stunning. Gorgeous. Beautiful. Cream had never seen something with such a delicate beauty in her whole life. She hadn't been able to hold the baby that day, as her and her mother needed to spend the night just to make sure, so Cream had been reluctantly escorted out of the hospital by her mother, who walked her home then urged her to take a nap. Which she did.

Unfortunately for her, her mother had restricted her from nagging Sonic and Amy about visiting. "It's rude," Vanilla had chided. "Besides, don't you want to give them a day or two to themselves and the baby? I know you'd want that when you have a child."

Damn her mother and her rightness.

So, barely a day after her niece was born, she was stuck brushing out her auburn hair, getting ready for work. Her _favorite_ thing to do. Seeing as how she was on delivery duty today (who in the hell had a delivery duty for a Chao shop?), and since in was only thirty degrees outside, she had to bundle herself up in many layers, gloves, scarves, the like.

Frowning after stepping out into the snow, she told herself that if she came home and there was more snow, that she'd shovel the sidewalk to kill time. She trudged all the way to work, and threw open the door with a huff. Her boss gave her an apologetic smile and handed her the giant sack full of delivery bags.

"When you're done with those, come back because there's a Chao that needs to be delivered," her boss said as she handed the bunny a list. "Be back before three."

Cream nodded and heaved the huge sack over her shoulder, and braced the winter wind again. Glancing at her route for her deliveries, she groaned when she realized that she'd be walking in a giant circle around the city. She adjusted the weight onto her shoulders, and with a determined glint in her eye, trudged through the snow to give people some Chao food. And toys. And bowties. And other unimportant things.

* * *

"Sign here, please."

The stupid bastard was _enjoying _this, Cream knew it.

A green crocodile grinned at her manically. "Why, don't mind if I do little lady!"

She scowled and handed him the pen, watching Vector sign his name with a flourish. She tossed his package to him, and cocked her head. "So why are you ordering," she glanced at the sheet again. "Chao food, toys, and a bed?"

Vector sighed. "Why don't you come in? I'll tell you about it when you're not freezing your ass off," he cursed. She knew that he only used his language whenever he wasn't around her mother.

Hesitantly, she shifted her weight onto her other foot. "I dunno, Vector… I need to get back to the store by three, and I still have deliveries left."

"You do realize that it's about one right now?" Vector asked impatiently. "You've got time. Get in here."

Cream sighed and complied, taking off her layers and her now lightweight sack full of deliveries. She savored the heat, and it obviously showed because Vector made a snide comment, which made him get a dirty look.

"Here's a Coke," Vector tossed the soda to her. She sipped it gratefully. "So, we bought all this Chao stuff because someway or another, Charmy convinced us all to get a Chao."

"_What_?" Cream asked, shocked. Then she laughed ridiculously. "Oh, that's good. How'd he do that?"

Vector huffed, a frown adorning his features. "For me, he just said that he really wanted one, yeah."

Cream narrowed her eyes. "What else?"

"Well," scratching his head, "I might have, uh, made him do laundry around here for a few months."

The bunny sighed. That's Vector for ya. A crash broke their silence, and the duo's heads shot up at the noise, and the familiar curses that followed it. "Well, damn! How in the f-"

"Charmy!" Vector yelled, and the bee buzzed his way into the kitchen, looking rather pissed. "What?" he seethed, and then he completely sobered whenever he saw Cream next to him. "Err, hey, Cream."

With a small laugh, she waved. "Hey, Charmy."

The bee grinned cockily and leaned against the doorframe. "So what're you doing here?" he asked, and barely after he finished, his boss interrupted him.

"Aren't you supposed to be doing laundry?"

Charmy scratched his head sheepishly. "Eh, yeah, ha, well, that's because, uh…"

"You don't know how to work it, do you?"

It was a feminine voice that asked this question, and Charmy raised his eyes to meet her inquisitive chocolate ones. At his clueless face, she laughed, and stood up. She walked by him and motioned for him to follow, and follow he did- right after he shot Vector a winning grin.

The crocodile only put his head in his hands, wondering what he was going to do with that bee.

* * *

"Detergent?"

"That's what it's called."

"Why the hell is it-"

"Like I know," Cream rolled her eyes. He was so _difficult_.

The bee huffed, and Cream continued on showing him how to work their ancient-looking washing machine. After she was sure she beat it into his head and she had approved of his work, she brought up conversation. "So, Charmy, you've got a Chao now?"

Charmy grinned. "Yeah, you heard?"

The bunny nodded. "Vector told me. That's why I'm here- I was delivering some stuff you must've ordered."

"Stuff? I didn't order any stuff."

"You didn't?" Cream frowned. "Maybe Vector did?"

Charmy blinked, then shrugged, then shouted Vector's name _really_ loud. An equally as loud, "_WHATI_?" echoed back, and Cream sighed at the rowdiness of these men. She followed Charmy, and found Vector in a cluttered office of some sorts with Espio, who was practicing his shuriken. She waved at the chameleon, and he jerked his head towards her in response.

"You order some Chao stuff?" Charmy asked, flying over the mess on the floor to head towards the television. Cream hesitated at the entrance, not very confident that she could make it through. She decided that she would just hover politely.

"_I _didn't order it," Vector said, grinning. "Surprisingly enough- and the bastard shocked me when he told me- but Espio ordered it."

"_Espio?_" Charmy echoed, then looked at his other partner. "No way!"

The purple one shrugged. "There's no way in hell I'm running out in this snow to get your stupid Chao his necessities."

"So you made Cream come out here and get it?" he shot back, then laughed and grinned. "Well, thanks Espio! I'm pretty sure that's the nicest thing you've done for me in a while."

The chameleon rolled his eyes and threw a shuriken at the target with deadly accuracy. Cream decided to ask something. "Do you have the Chao yet?"

Charmy shook his head. "Nah, we're supposed to get it today," he replied, then furrowed his brows. "Which makes me wonder why you don't have it right now."

Cream shrugged. "Your Chao is probably the one I have to go back and get."

Vector scoffed. "Your boss has you on a crazy schedule, girl," he said. "Charmy, you go with her and help her finish up her deliveries. Then you'll head with her back to work and pick up the damn Chao yourself, you hear?"

Charmy twitched, but agreed nonetheless. Cream, on the other hand, wondered what kind of twisted fate had her ex-crush being with her all the time now.

Cream sighed and glanced at the clock. "Well, I better get going so… you might wanna bundle up Charmy."

The bee nodded, but his boss grabbed hold of his arm. "You go get ready Cream, I have to tell Charmy something before I forget."

Although she was suspicious, the bunny nodded and did what she was told; she headed back to the entrance and put on all her layers again, waiting patiently for Charmy. Far away from the rabbit, Vector was drilling something into Charmy's mind.

"Charmy, you've got to stop hitting on Cream, okay?" Vector said, making sure Charmy got that he wasn't playing. The bee only shot him a dirty look.

"Who said I was doing that?" he mumbled and he threw on his hoodie. "Besides, how is it your business anyway?"

The crocodile snarled. "She's practically my daughter, damn it. And I know that she and Tails have something going on; I _saw_ it," Vector huffed. "So I'm telling you, Charmy, _back off_. Because then you'll have me and Tails on your scrawny little ass."

Said bee rolled his eyes and made his way towards the bunny. "Whatever, Vector. See you later!" he grinned.

Vector frowned and ignored Charmy's cocky attitude. Little did he know, though- Charmy was really aching inside. He didn't plan on losing his girl, but looks like Tails got to her first.

He sighed before he made himself visible to his crush. Looks like he didn't win all the time.

* * *

"There you go!" Cream chirped as she handed the heavy box to Charmy. He held it delicately, frowning at it as he tried to look through the holes.

"The Chao is in here?" he asked. "Are you sure?"

Cream deadpanned. "Yes."

Hesitantly, he shifted the box into his other hand, and he heard an inquisitive "chao?" The rabbit grinned and bent towards the box. "Hey little fella, this guy here is your new owner," she chuckled. "He's gonna take good care of you and love you, so everything will be great, okay?"

"Chao chao!" it chirped, and she laughed at the joy that Chaos brought her. She didn't notice Charmy smiling at her, because it vanished as soon as she met his eyes.

"Okay, so be sure to feed it three times a day," she held up three fingers. "Got it?" He nodded, and she continued. "You have to give him love, and don't yell at him okay? Teach him some basic commands and in a week or two he'll begin to understand our language. So just be super patient, okay?"

The bee sighed. "I think I've got it, Cream."

She smiled. "Okay, just making sure. You know how I am with Chao."

Charmy nodded, and then awkwardly stepped back. "Well, I'll uh, head back now."

She smiled and waved. "Okay, hurry home! Don't let him get too cold!"

Charmy nodded and left the building, running down the street with the box safely in his hands. She watched him for a moment, and then sighing, clocked out and waved goodbye to her boss. She opened the door to the shop and listened to the jingle of the bells before taking a right to head home. She pulled out her phone and texted her mom, and she wasn't paying attention whenever somebody grabbed her arm.

Prepared to knee this person where the sun doesn't shine, she jerked her head up, only to find Tails. She noticed that her leg was halfway in the air, and she thanked the Lord that she had the senses to actually see who it was. She put her leg down, and exhaled. "God, Tails, you scared me."

He grinned sheepishly. "Heh, sorry. I was on my way to go get some parts for the Tornado and I saw you…" he trailed off, his muzzle turning pink. "Do you wanna, uh…"

She rolled her eyes at his shyness. "Yeah, sure, lead the way."

Cream linked arms with him, and turned back around to the parts shop that she knew he was heading. They didn't say anything, and Cream quickly text her mom about the change of plans. She pulled herself a little closer to Tails, hoping he wouldn't notice, so she ended up hanging off of his arm, something she didn't mind in the least bit.

"So, Uncle Tails," she asked teasingly. "Have you seen your niece yet?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "Nah, I've been giving them some space. You?"

Cream shook her head. "No, but I want to! I'm really anxious about it and my mom isn't letting me contact them, something about giving them time to themselves," she frowned. "But, are you looking forward to it?"

"I guess," he shrugged. "Still kinda nervous that I'll do something stupid. It's not like I've ever been near a baby before. It sounds hard being an uncle."

She laughed. "You're so silly, Tails. I'm an aunt- what's the difference? You'll be _fine_."

"Whatever," he scowled, and she poked his cheek. "Don't frown," she sing-songed. "You don't look so pretty when you frown~!"

He blushed and shot her a look. "I'd rather not look _pretty_."

"Being pretty is a good thing, Tails. All girls want a pretty guy."

"Ha, _okay_."

She laughed and buried her face in his arm, secretly taking in his scent. She blew some snow off her nose, and told herself that she could wait to see her niece for a _long_ time if Tails was with her.

* * *

A/N: Kind of a filler. The action is in the next two chapters… the best parts! Though it's not really action, per se... Haha. Review please! Tell me what you think!


	11. Eleven Pipers Piping

**A/N:** Wow sorry for the lateness of this chapter… I've been visiting some friends and I haven't had time to even WRITE, so… yeah. Anyways, it's coming to a close, and I'm sure you know what's gonna happen in this chapter, haha. Or… at least you should? Hm. OH. And Writer's Block!

* * *

_**On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me-  
**__Eleven pipers piping-  
__Ten lords-a-leaping-  
__Nine ladies dancing-  
__Eight maids-a-milking-  
__Seven swans-a-swimming-  
__Six geese-a-laying-  
__Five golden rings-  
__Four calling birds-  
__Three French hens-  
__Two turtle doves-  
__And a partridge in a pear tree._

_January 4__th_

* * *

"Seventeen ninety-three, sir."

What a hectic day.

The customer left, leaving about fourteen more. She had no idea why in the world there was so many people there in the first place- I mean, they weren't even having a major sale. It must've been a coincidence or something. Or, well, it was the weekend.

Scanning the next shopper's items, she zoned out and thought about what she was doing after work. She was excited. So. Very. Excited. Sonic- her surrogate brother- was picking her up after work to take her back to his house, so she could meet the newest member of their family.

Clarisse.

Nervousness built up inside of her at the mere thought of actually meeting the baby. She hadn't _really_ held something just a few days old before, and she was afraid that she'd do something stupid like drop it or hold it upside down.

She opened the cash register and pulled out the desired amount of change, handing it to the very annoyed shopper. She glanced at the clock, and was relieved to note that it was only an hour away from the end of her shift.

The rest of the hour passed slowly, and she gladly took off her apron and shoved it in her purse. She grabbed a soda from the employee fridge, and waited outside in the cold for Sonic. Soon enough, a blue ball of fur popped in front of her, grinning. She only jumped a little- quite used to his sudden appearances- and greeted him. He followed in stride with her.

"So, Cream," he started. "How've you been?"

She shrugged. "Good, I guess. It's just been work, home, sleep, Chaos, the Chaotix…"

"Tails."

"Yeah," she replied absentmindedly, and then she snapped her head towards him. "Err, what?"

He laughed. "We're not completely oblivious, Cream. But it's okay. Amy thinks it's cute, and she won't shut up about you two sometimes. On the other hand…" he trailed off, a mischievous smirk appearing on his face. "Tails has been happy."

She cocked her head. "What?"

"He's been happy," the hedgehog repeated. "Whenever Amy gives me clearance-" at this she laughed- "I go and visit Tails at his workshop, and he's been pretty cheerful lately. I can only imagine that his happiness is because of _you_," Sonic grinned, and she blushed at the teasing.

"Okay, sure," and she changed the subject. "How's Amy?"

"Good. Tired. Bitchy," he chuckled. "But wonderful."

"You're so in _love_," she sing-songed. "That's so cute."

He snorted. "Whatever. Oh, by the way," he said as he started to veer off-track from their destination. "I forgot to tell you that we're picking up Tails too. We're all going together."

Cream shrugged. "Okay, sure."

The duo arrived at Tails' workshop and waltzed right on in. The fox was- not to anyone's surprise- underneath his plane, tinkering with it. Cream marveled at his skills to stay absorbed with something for such a long time. Tails rolled out from under the plane and briefly smiled at the others before sliding a mask over his face and turning on a really loud sparky-thing.

"Geez, Tails," Sonic groaned whenever the noise had quit. "Maybe a warning first? And come _on_, we have to go."

"Sorry… hold on a minute."

The fox continued fixing something up, using the tool once more, hurting Cream's ears in the process even though she knew better that time. Finally, he slid out from underneath the plane and stood up, wiping some grease off his face with a random rag. Refreshing up a little bit, Tails finally gave the okay and the now trio exited the workshop, heading back to Sonic's place.

Cream was smiling now, the pleasant expression stuck on her face. Apparently it was bothering others, because Sonic nudged her with a questioning look. "Why are you smiling so much? Is it because of Tail-"

"_No,_" she interrupted last minute. Goodness… Sonic was persistent. "I'm just excited to see the baby," she finished with a giant grin on her face.

Sonic laughed. "She's a sweetheart, let me tell ya. Though she keeps on pulling our quills… so you'll have to watch out for your ears," then he turned to Tails briefly. "And your tails."

Cream shrugged. "I'm sure I can handle it," she trailed off. "Has she shown any sign of taking after your speed? Or Amy's strength?"

The hedgehog shrugged. "Not really. It's not like she's a prodigy child who can crawl a few days after birth. But, strength wise, I guess so, because it hurts like hell when she tugs," and at this he winced.

The fox and the rabbit laughed, and the trio continued on towards Sonic and Amy's house in pleasant company. Once they arrived, Sonic opened the door, and the sound of boisterous crying filled their ears.

"Ah, well, seems we sort of came a little late," Sonic chuckled, leading in his younger friends. Cream slid off her jacket, smiling fondly at the wailing. Amy appeared, turning the corner, looking tousled with a blue bundle in her arms, a purple head sticking out of it. She smiled wearily at their guests, and Cream grinned and skipped over towards her best friend.

"Aww, she's so _cute_," she cooed, eyeing the lavender hedgehog with sparkling chocolate eyes. The baby cooed up at her questioningly, her baby giggle echoing at the strange sight in front of her. Cream laughed and the baby reached up, so Cream leaned down closer. Clarisse grinned and grabbed her ear, tugging ridiculously hard.

"_Eeeee!_" Cream shrieked, jumping away from the baby while holding her ear tenderly. The baby giggled and Amy sighed, giving her friend a look of sympathy. "Let's go into the den so I can feed her," Amy suggested before leaving the room, her husband falling in step behind her.

Cream frowned while rubbing her ear, and Tails walked past her. "Guess I'm keeping my tails away," he laughed. Frowning even deeper, Cream used her other hand to reach out and yank one of his tails. The fox jumped and gasped a little, then glared at the bunny, who was chucking. "Serves you right," she said as she passed him, tugging his hand so he'd follow her. Smiling, Tails did so.

They joined the hedgehogs in the den, Sonic building a fire. They sat down on the couch, and Amy was breast feeding the baby, something that Cream _knew_ freaked Tails out, even though nothing was showing. "So how've you been?" Amy asked, and Cream smiled.

"I could ask you the same thing," the bunny responded, and Amy ran through her tangled quills. "Tired. Drained. Frustrated. But very happy," she smiled.

Sonic joined her on the house and echoed her words, the couple smiling happily beside each other. At that moment in time, nobody could even begin to imagine the envious feelings Cream was having.

All she wanted was someone to love her like Sonic did to Amy. Looking at Tails, the thought didn't leave her mind.

* * *

About an hour after arriving, Clarisse and her mother ended up falling asleep on the couch, which made Sonic shoo them away so he could put his daughter and his wife to sleep. Cream happily obliged, and called Tails out to follow her as Sonic gave him some parting advice, something which she wasn't allowed to hear.

She sighed. Men.

Knowing that she had nothing else to do that day, Tails asked her if she wanted to do something. She agreed, and they ended up taking the Tornado to a place she hadn't been in quite a while: Station Square. She had heard of everyone's adventures there- Amy and Zero, the echidna priestess, Chaos- the god of destruction and guardian of Chaos- and she'd only gone here on trips with her friends and a vacation or two with her mother. She went to the beach and Twinkle Park every time, and she planned on stopping by with Tails that day.

They landed in the Mystic Ruins, home of one of Tails' workshops. He briefly showed it to her, and then they made their way up to the train station and rode for a good fifteen minutes to Station Square. Cream and Tails stepped of the train, and Tails rubbed under his nose like Sonic would. Glancing over towards him as they made their way down the stairs, she smiled. "Feeling nostalgic?"

He grinned. "Every time I come here I do."

Cream chuckled. "So where do you wanna go?"

"Dunno."

"Twinkle Park?"

He gave her a wary look, and she laughed. "It'll be fine! It's not like I'm Amy or anything," she grinned. "But I bet cute couples would get in free!"

Tails blushed, but grinned. "Yeah, guess so…"

Smiling, she tugged him along and they arrived at Twinkle Park in mere minutes, the elevator taking up a full load of customers. Station Square being one of the human metropolises, many humans and animals were together. There were human kids and animal kids socializing, couples of each type… such a diversity. Cream was pleased that they weren't the _only_ animals there.

The three women at the entrance were collecting money and passing along couples- ("I was right!" Cream had exclaimed) and Cream shoved them into line.

"Welcome to Twinkle Park!" a peppy teenage girl with blonde hair exclaimed to the couple in front of them. "That'll be twelve dollars please!" The guy reluctantly paid, and Cream knew that they were offended that they weren't considered 'cute'.

They stepped up to the blonde girl, and she smiled brilliantly and giggled. "Well aren't you cute! Welcome to Twinkle Park! Oh, you have such cute tails!" she said to Tails. Cream was confused. After much more babble, the girl had pushed them through with no cost, making the duo the last on the elevator.

She winked at Tails. "Guess we're a cute couple, huh?" He did nothing but smile, and his muzzle turned pink.

For the next four hours, Cream and Tails explored Twinkle Park, avoiding the bumper cars entirely ("I _hate_ those things," they had both said simultaneously). They had rode the giant rollercoaster, played some carnival games, rode the Tilt-a-Whirl… everything, really. Cream saved the Ferris wheel for last, when she knew that the fireworks would go off. Okay, so she had been eyeing the line for the past hour and a half, but she really just wanted to get the best of what she could while she was there.

At first Cream and Tails had gotten on with a bunch of tinkling girls who wouldn't shut up, but they got scared half way around the first time so they got out soon. Leaving Cream and Tails. Alone. On a Ferris wheel. Which isn't romantic in the least bit.

Gosh, Cream was such a girl.

A quarter of the way through the second ride around the fireworks started going off. The bunny watched in wonder as the sky lit up around her in purples, reds, and greens. She smiled and looked at Tails, whose eyes were reflecting off the sky. He felt her gaze and smiled at her, and she scooted closer to him. They ended up side arm to arm, Cream fiddling with the edge of her dress as she saw a couple on the other side of the Ferris wheel sharing a romantic kiss.

Queue the sigh.

She sighed, and Tails looked at her. "What's wrong?" he asked, and she shrugged, shaking her head. The ride conductors had began to stop now to let more riders on, so they were at a dead stop. Cream didn't answer, so her male companion repeated his question.

"I dunno Tails," she said quietly, finally under the sky once more. He didn't say anything, just turned forward and stared at his hands. They were silent until they moved again, and he spoke. "Cream."

"Yeah?" she turned her head to face him.

He wasn't looking at her. "Remember what we talked about on New Years?"

She certainly hadn't forgotten. She replied "of course," softly, and they moved one more time before the two-tailed fox shifted in his seat. "Okay, good."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she dared to ask after a while. He didn't say anything, and she thought he was going to speak whenever they went underneath the harsh lights of the ride and were getting off next. Instead they stayed silent, and after getting off and walking aimlessly, Tails nudged her.

"Yeah, what?" she asked, snapping out of a trance. The fox smiled softly at her. "How does heading to the beach now before it gets too late sound?"

The rabbit grinned and nodded, adding, "You know me so well."

* * *

She expected that there would be people walking along the shore. And there were. Tons and tons and tons.

"Seems like I didn't have such a good idea," Tails muttered to himself, but Cream picked it up. She smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry; we'll still have a good time."

They walked and talked for a long time, until the crowd had died down and people walking became rare. Cream was eyeing the water mostly, but she was very conscious of Tails' shoulder brushing hers. Their hands brushed and she jerked away, but he surprised her by taking her hand in his.

Then it hit her.

It was happening right _now_. Holding hands. Walk on the beach. A day at the amusement park. A Ferris wheel ride. Alone. Two people that liked each other. They were holding hands. He was glad that's she remembered all the things he said.

Suddenly, she was nervous. A small frown graced her features as she tried to stop her chest from trembling. She knew it was coming. He was going to bring it up and they were going to talk and then maybe… maybe they would kiss.

Cream quickly closed her eyes and attempted to banish all thoughts like that from her head, a trick Amy had taught her. Apparently it didn't work with Tails, because she inhaled and smelt a mixture of Tails' scent and the ocean waves, and then everything came flooding back.

"Err, Cream?"

Her eyes shot open, and Tails had stopped to look at her with an adorably confused expression on his face. "What're you…? Are you okay?"

She laughed nervously, avoiding his gaze. "Ahaha, yeah of course Tails. Why wouldn't I be? It's just the… err… sea breeze is getting salt in my eye." She nodded in satisfaction. "Yes. That's it."

"That was kind of a lame excuse, Cream," Tails chuckled with a half smile on his face, and Cream couldn't help but laugh, embarrassed.

And here came the moment. Staring into each other's eyes. In the moonlight. At the beach. Holding hands. He was taller than her. He was hot. If he was a lifeguard this would be _awesome_. But, he was Tails, so it was _perfect_.

He leaned down towards her, and she started panicking. She panicked really hard. This would be her first kiss, and it was with Tails! She wasn't one to kiss and tell, but she would just _have_ to tell Amy. But not her mom. And certainly not Vector because he'd tell Charmy and Charmy would be all PMS-y next time she saw him. A tingle ran down her spine as his furry muzzle met hers, and suddenly she went brain-dead.

All she saw with her half-lidded eyes was Tails holding her shoulders, leaning in for their first kiss. All she thought about was how close they were. All she felt was his muzzle and his soft grip on her shoulders. All she heard was him breathing with the faint sound of waves crashing the background. All she smelt was his wonderfully musky scent- so Tails that it made her brain melt.

Then she felt it- his lips on hers.

It was the best thing she had ever felt in her entire life. His lips were so soft and so gentle as they moved on top of hers slowly. She quickly responded, and he moved his hand down to her waist, the other burying itself in her hair. She tangled her hands into his abundant chest hair, and tilted her head back to deepen the kiss.

Eventually, they broke for air, and Cream managed to let out a soft little sigh before he captured her lips again. He must have _really_ wanted this-probably much more that she ever could. From the way he was holding her, Cream felt that he was thinking that if he let her go, he'd never see her again.

She liked that.

After a few more electrifying kisses, they finally broke apart, panting. Her cheeks bright red, she buried her head into his chest, inhaling him, heading his heart beating rapidly, much like hers. He embraced her with his arms _and_ his tails, which made her sigh happily. He chuckled, and she kissed his throat before backing up.

Smiling, she spoke. "We should get home."

Agreeing, they took their time getting back to the train station, and soon enough they were back at Tails' workshop, in the plane to head back home. They didn't speak- this comfortable silence becoming common for them- and he hovered low enough in front of her house so she could jump out and fly down.

She looked at him before he opened the cockpit and gave him a big smile, and Tails returned it with a wink. Giggling a little, she jumped out and flew down to her doorstep, unlocking it to reveal her mother glancing out the kitchen window curiously.

At the sight of her daughter, Vanilla smiled and seemed oblivious to Cream's still slightly swollen lips. "There you are, dear. Did you have a good time?"

Cream didn't answer right away; instead, a small smile spread across her face as she looked her mother right in the eye. "Definitely."

* * *

A/N: OMG THIS CHAPTER WAS SO FUN YEAH REVIEW AND PLEASE EXCUSE MY SUCKY SCHEDULE AND HOPE FOR THE CHAPTER AT THE END OF THIS WEEK kthxbai.


	12. Twelve Drummers Drumming

A/N: Wow I suck haha anyways so this is THE LAST CHAPTER! OMG WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN? You probably know what's going to happen but hey I make words look pretty so just freaking READ. Oh and guess what I did JUST for this chapter? I gave Tails a point of view! Yes I did! It's only been Cream, Vanilla, I think a tiny bit of Charmy and then someone else maybe, but I have avoided Tails until NOW!

ANYWAYS, I'm so sorry, and I want to thank you all so much for all the support and dedication! I apologize for the hugee delay (this was supposed to be finished in January, but it's almost _March_), and I'm glad that you all enjoy this story!

PS: To whoever added this story into the Sonamy, Crails, and Knouge community, thank you!(:

* * *

_**On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me-  
**__Twelve drummers drumming-  
__Eleven pipers piping-  
__Ten lords-a-leaping-  
__Nine ladies dancing-  
__Eight maids-a-milking-  
__Seven swans-a-swimming-  
__Six geese-a-laying-  
__Five golden rings-  
__Four calling birds-  
__Three French hens-  
__Two turtle doves-  
__And a partridge in a pear tree._

_January 5__th_

* * *

Vanilla was getting suspicious.

Her daughter, who although had a very good upbringing and was used to the aspect of working, never really did like it. Her daughter always had that disgusted look in her eyes whenever she had to wash the dishes or head off to the store or vacuum or _whatever_.

But she wasn't like that today.

"I'll get that," she chirped, grabbing Vanilla's dirty dishes along with her own. She twirled over to the sink and immediately begin to wash them, humming a tune as she went.

Yes, Vanilla was definitely suspicious.

How to approach this matter is what the adult rabbit pondered on as she cleared the rest of the table, eyeing her daughter slyly. The change in her daughter's mood could be because of something personal that she probably wouldn't even really want to tell her mother, which would cause tension and _nobody _liked tension.

She thought about it, and thought some more, until Cream finished the dishes and- smiling all the way- went to go pick up the living room. The light hit her just right, and a glint from the necklace around her neck made something spark inside of Vanilla.

_The locket_.

Oh it was _Tails_!

She should've known that it was the kitsune as soon as Cream had come home the night before and declared that she had a good time with that little smile on her face. They had been gone for a long time last night, and the only thing that Vanilla had gotten out of the younger bunny was that they had gone to Station Square.

It'd been quite a while since she had been to Station Square. She knew that there were many tourist attractions there, and she wasn't oblivious to the fact that Cream was very fond of Twinkle Park. Knowing that the fox-boy was rather _whipped_ as they called it, Cream probably dragged him in there and they rode the majority of the rides.

Switching off the light in the kitchen, her eyes widened in realization. Second to Twinkle Park was the beach. Supposing that they had gone there last like she had deducted and that it was nighttime, then…

Vanilla looked at her daughter, who was straightening up the couch cushions. Watching Cream walk around with that satisfied look on her face, Vanilla had no doubt that her daughter had gotten herself a boyfriend.

With a sigh, Vanilla also realized how old she had become.

* * *

He probably shouldn't have told Sonic that he had kissed Cream last night.

"_Dude_…" Sonic grinned as they walked side-by-side to Tails' workshop. Tails had just had lunch with Sonic, Amy, and their baby girl, and Sonic agreed to spend some time with his surrogate little brother. Tails had told Sonic as soon as he felt appropriate, and Sonic had been talking about how proud he was of Tails the entire time.

"Okay, so, I'm proud of you," Sonic said for the fifteenth time. He made eye contact with the fox. "So how was it?"

"What?" Tails asked.

Sonic grinned and clarified. "How was the kiss? Was it mind-numbing? Did you feel tingles up your spine?"

"Where the hell did you get _that _from?" Tails shot back with pink muzzle, trying to change the subject. "What has Amy been feeding into your mind?"

The hedgehog put his hands up in defense. "Hey, don't bullshit me, Tails," he chuckled. "You _know_ that's what it feels like."

Tails put his hands inside his pockets. "Yeah, okay, so it felt like that."

His friend made a thoughtful noise, posing with his hand on his chin. "Well, little buddy, it sounds like you're in _love_."

Tails didn't say anything, and his older brother got the hint. "Ah, I'm just playin' Tails," Sonic ruffled his hair, something that Tails thought was ridiculous because he wasn't eight anymore. "I know that you're not sure if you are or not, but that's okay. It's not like you have to tell her right away."

He was right, Tails thought. Yeah, he liked Cream. He liked her a _lot_. He liked every single thing about her… he was pretty sure that there was nothing he _didn't_ like. But thinking about the concept of love, of all the restrictions and meanings behind it, he wasn't quite sure that he was ready for that- that he could say that he _loved_ Cream.

He knew that in the future he would; there was no doubt about it. _When_ exactly was the question.

Sonic was talking again, but Tails wasn't listening. He was thinking about Cream. Was she his… _girlfriend_? He'd like to say she was, but he hadn't asked-

Oh, he had to _ask_.

It took days and days of building up courage to kiss her, and to have to _ask_ her to be his girlfriend? He should've done it last night while he had the nerve! Oh what did he get himself into?

"-and when I tell Amy she's going to _flip_-"

"No!" Tails interrupted, hearing that last bit and having his internal siren blare insanely. Sonic could _not_ tell Amy because she would tell Cream that he told Sonic and Cream might not have wanted that and then everyone else would know and then maybe Cream would get in trouble by Vanilla and-

"Why not?" Sonic stopped walking, facing his little brother. With a nervous chuckle, Tails slowly explained his logic, and Sonic's smile grew wider the entire time.

"Oh, little bro," Sonic cooed, walking ahead of Tails. "You've got so much to learn."

The fox opened his mouth to question him, but Sonic grinned and sped off before he could ask. With a frown, Tails flew himself to his workshop, knowing that his older brother would be waiting there with a whole new bunch of teasing.

* * *

"…So when are you getting married?"

Twitch.

Why was Amy her best friend again?

"We're not getting _married, _Amy!" Cream responded to Amy, who she was talking to on the phone on her way to work. "We just kissed," she finished, her tone a lot softer than before.

The hedgehog on the other line giggled. "Yeah, okay, sure. Tell me that in a couple of weeks."

"What are you trying to imply?" Cream asked, her face becoming red at Amy's accusation.

Amy sighed and began. "Tails is a hormonal teenage fox, and you know that sometimes guys can't really hold in how they feel-"

"_Amy_," Cream hissed, and she sighed as she turned the corner onto the street of the Chao store. "Don't even say… whatever. I have to go."

Her best friend giggled again. "Aww, you're so cute. Okay, I'll talk to you later! Remember that you're only sixteen-"

Cream hung up.

* * *

After a very boring shift of dealing with very clueless customers, Cream exited the Chao store with a huff. It was extra cold today, and she really wanted nothing more than to go home and defrost her feet in front of the fire that surely was building.

So she power-walked home, her ears too cold to operate, and opened the front door lethargically. Her happy mood had vanished completely. Sighing, she peeled off her layers and hung it on the coat rack, and then went through the kitchen to the formal living room with the fireplace.

She was greeted by a shock. Her mom. Vector. And Tails. Talking.

As soon as she stepped foot into the room, everyone froze. Vanilla was smiling at her like nothing happened, Vector had a very snarky looking grin on his face, and Tails was actually starting to look a little sheepish.

"Hello dear, how was work?" Her mother broke the silence. "You must be cold; come sit by the fire."

Feeling very suspicious, Cream complied, wondering why _Tails_ was there. In all honesty, she felt very flustered around him, but her curiosity overpowered that feeling and she sent him a questioning glance, in which he answered with a small smile but an otherwise blank stare.

"Work sucked," Cream said, forgetting her manners, something which her mom didn't pick up on. "People act like they don't know how to buy something."

Vector reclined in his chair, smiling at the younger bunny. "That, dear, is why you don't ever work at a store."

Cream scoffed. "Says the detective who barely ever gets any work."

"Hey!" Vector shot back, and only a touch from Vanilla made him relax. Cream smiled in apology, and glanced at Tails before scooting herself directly in front of the fire. Vector and Vanilla created small talk for a while, and Tails joined her in front of the fire with a smile on his face.

"Hey," he spoke, and she couldn't resist grinning.

"Hey to you too," she responded. "What are you doing here?"

Tails shrugged. "I came over here to see if you, uh, wanted to go and get dinner or something but your mom and Vector insisted on me coming in until you got back from work."

She chuckled. "What'd mom say to why you were here?"

He frowned a little- an adorable expression on his face. "She laughed and said, 'I figured as much,'"

Cream sighed. She had an embarrassing mom sometimes. Her and Tails joined in a conversation in between Vanilla and Vector before it fell silent once more. Cream cleared her throat awkwardly and glanced at Tails, wondering whether that 'dinner' invitation was going to appear again.

She decided that she should just take the initiative.

"Well, Mom," she started, standing up and stretching her limbs. Tails soon followed her lead, and she turned towards the elder bunny to finish. "I think Tails and I are going to go get something to eat. Is that okay?"

It seemed like Vanilla hesitated, and Cream was momentarily worried. But with a defeated sigh and a smile, Vanilla waved them on. Cream grinned and gave her mother a quick kiss on the cheek, waved goodbye to Vector, and then tugged Tails out of the living room. The couple bundle up and stepped outside, the sky darkening as the end of the day neared.

They walked towards a favorite of Cream's- a quaint little café where her and Amy often had lunch together. Inside, the hostess sat them, and Cream hummed a happy little tune as Tails gave her a small smile as he slid in his side of the booth across her. They ordered, laughed about some things, ate, and then left, walking aimlessly around town.

Cream and Tails decided on heading back to his workshop- and he needed to finish something anyway, it was _kinda_ due tomorrow- and Cream settled herself on a rolling metal work drawer thing with endless supplies of tools inside that kinda made her wonder where he got all of his supplies.

"So what're you working on?" Cream asked as she sipped her hot chocolate, watching Tails poke around expertly. He frowned slightly and glanced towards her.

"A laser missle thingy," he said. "The government has been up my ass about it so I figured that I should get it done," he scratched his nose absentmindedly, just like Sonic. "Sorry 'bout the language," he muttered. "I've been hanging around Sonic too much."

Cream smiled and shook her head, sipping her drink as Tails continued to modify his creation. In their silence, she thought about him: how lovely and sweet he was, how handsome he was… everything about him was wonderful. And now, they were a couple! Holding hands, walking down the sidewalk in the park with the flowers blooming, little kids running around happily… sitting on a bench, watching the sunset and then kissing as the sun disappeared behind the hills in a golden hue… boyfriend and girlfriend…

Boyfriend and girlfriend…

She twitched.

Oh he hadn't _asked_!

These weren't things that you just assume! You need to _ask _people to be your partner! You just don't _expect_ someone to marry if you if you love them enough; you _ask_! But, it was a male thing, yes definitely. There was no way in hell that Cream was taking the man's role in this and asking Tails out. If anything he should know that she was a tradition-based girl with her mother believing in chivalry and all, so he should know that she expected this!

…Was he even _thinking_ about it?

She twitched again.

Apparently, she was making some pretty odd facial movements, because her fox companion certainly noticed it. He glanced out of the corner of his eye in the silence, just to see if she was terribly bored, and he finds her twitching slightly, her mouth set in a frown and brows furrowed. He set down his wrench and faced her, and when she didn't seem to notice he cleared his throat.

She snapped to attention, a blush adorning her features. "Oh, yes, hi Tails."

"…Hello," Tails replied slowly. "Is something… bothering you?"

She laughed now, nervously twirling her hair. "Nothing really, haha… just remembered I forgot something at work."

Here's the thing about Cream… she's not very good at lying. And she knows it. And Tails knows it. Instead of peacefully trying to figure out what her problem was, Tails just decided to be blunt. "You're lying, Cream, and you suck at it."

She pouted. "Yeah, okay, so what if I am?"

"Cream," he rolled his eyes. "What are you thinking about?"

Still pouting, she softened her glare towards him, her muzzle gaining a rosy hue. "Nothing," she replied, taking another sip of her drink, leaving Tails frowning at her. He wasn't one to pry, really, but it _looked_ pretty important considering she was twitching quite severely, so he sat back and faced her silently, making eye contact.

And they stared.

* * *

Cream wasn't very good at keeping things from people. Especially Tails. _Especially_ when he was looking at her so intensely with his bright blue eyes peering into her chocolate ones.

Oh goodness, she had no willpower.

But how do you tell your almost-boyfriend that you really would like him to formally ask you out? You just don't say, "Oh, hey, yeah it'd be nice if you could ask me out you know," because only psychos like Amy and Rouge did that, and Cream definitely had an ounce of sense in her compared to her other two close female friends.

He was still starting at her, so she set her mouth into a scowl and glared at him. "Tails, it's _nothing_. Stop staring at me like that," she finished, the last part starting to sound like a whine.

"Obviously it's something," he said as he complied, picking up his tool once more and adjusting his creation. "People don't twitch like that."

"I twitched?" Cream questioned, and Tails nodded in return. Great, she thought, _that_ had to be attractive. "Sorry," she decided on saying. "But really, it's nothing."

"The fact that you keep on repeating that kinda tells me that it's something," Tails smartly shot back, and Cream frowned at his comeback. Why was he so interested anyway? Or, what if, this was their first unofficial fight as an almost-couple?

That didn't sound quite right.

Determined to get both their minds off the subject, she quickly threw in, "I had a nice night tonight."

"I did too," he replied, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye with an adorable smile on his face. She smiled back shyly, averting her gaze downwards as she brought the steaming cup of hot cocoa to her lips once more. It became silent once more, and just as she was about to ask a _really_ pointless question about Sonic, Tails interrupted her.

"So I've been thinking," he said as he continued working, not meeting her gaze. He didn't say anymore, so Cream quirked a brow and told him to go on.

He paused, and kept on talking. "You remember last night, right?" It was quite a pointless question because it's something that she would never ever forget, and thinking about it only made her smile and blush. She nodded, and he glanced at her with a matching expression on his face.

"Well, I er, realized that I kinda forgot to do something…" Tails' little stutters had appeared again, which signaled Cream that…

Oh _yes_.

He was going to ask her wasn't he! That means that he must've been thinking about it too… now _that_ was weird. But… what if he _wasn't_ going to ask her out? _Then_ what would she do?

Before Cream could destroy her mental state any longer, Tails finished what he was saying. "So, I was wondering…" he turned to face her now, looking at her. "Would you like to, uh, be my… girlfriend?"

It wasn't the smoothest way to ask her, nor was it the most romantic sitting inside his workshop on a cold winter's night with lukewarm hot cocoa in her hands. But honestly, Cream could have asked for anything better. With a smile that she truly felt inside, she gave her answer. "Yes."

Tails grinned and stood up. Since Cream was still seated on top of the storage drawers, he towered over her. He leaned down, and she instinctively cocked her head and closed her eyes.

His lips met hers, one hand on her waist and one on her cheek, and Cream was thrilled to say that she was his girlfriend.

* * *

An hour of sweet kisses later, Cream returned home floating on cloud nine. She greeted her mother, who was getting ready for bed, and headed up to relax in the privacy of her room.

Stripping off her clothes, she slipped into some flannel pajamas, and began to make her way to her bathroom whenever her locket caught her attention in the mirror on her dresser. She paused in front of it and unclipped the jewelry from around her neck, opening it to find Cheese on one side and an empty slot on the other.

With confidence now, she opened her junk drawer filled with pictures and miscellaneous items. She shuffled through to find the packet of photos from a reunion a year back, and found two copies of a group picture. There was her and Tails, his arm around her, both smiling brightly at the camera.

Cream smiled and removed the picture, shutting the drawer behind her. With expert cutting skills, she cut out the picture of her and Tails into the perfect heart shape and held the locket in her other hand. Cream slid in the picture, and giggled softly to herself at how well suited the picture was inside the locket.

Later, after she had managed to make herself drowsy, Cream fell into a deep sleep. She dreamed of two-tailed foxes with planes, bright blue eyes, and rabbit girlfriends.

_fin_

* * *

A/N: It's OVVERRR! My goodness I've had a lot of fun with this series(: Please review and tell me everything that you thought about it! Also, I'm working on two huge Sonic projects, both with Sonamy and Crails in them! Keep a lookout for those, and perhaps read my other oneshots?

Anyways, thanks to every single person who's read this, and these amazing users: **Redi Kurumi, firerose9318, OddSakura, HisSweetestHoney, Hokuto Ulrik, DarkWingedAngel8, Secchan-Ale, Kikenovic, **& **sonamyfan905! **You are all amazing and I'm so glad you liked the story!

Well for now I'm quite busy, but hopefully I'll get some writing time in. I love you guys!

vanelo159

(PS: My username probably will change soon- you'll just have to wait and see what it is!)


End file.
